


HH 

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Book-^ /g? 



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HISTORY 

OF 

THE VICE ROYALTY OF 

BUENOS AY RES; 

CONTAINING 

THE MOST ACCURATE DETAILS 

RELATIVE TO THE 

I TOPOGRAPHY, HISTORY, COMMERCE, POPULATION, 
GOVERNMENT, §c. §c. 

OF THAT VALUABLE COLONY. 



BY SAMUEL HULL W1LCOCKE. 

w 



ILLUSTRATED WITH PLATES, 



PRINTED FOR II. D. SYMONDS, 

NO. 20, PATERNOSTER-ROW j 

AND MESSRS. BLACK, PARRY, AND KINGSBURY, 
LE ADENH A LL-ST REET J 

By C. Squire, Furnivars-Inn-Court. 



1307. 



Z% V 



A/ f Q 
y Y 6? | 




PREFACE. 



^HE conquest of the important colony, 
which forms the subject of the present vo- 
lume, was hailed as a most auspicious event, 
and excited in the public mind not only a 
desire to participate in the benefits that might be 
expected from it in a commercial point of view, 
but also a wish to be minutely acquainted with 
every particular relative to the extended regions 
to which it gives access. Having been engaged 
in extensive mercantile pursuits, in the course 
of which he had opportunities of acquiring much 
interesting information respecting the Spanish 
colonies in South America, the author conceived 
he could not better employ some leisure-time 
which presented itself to him, than in digesting 
those materials, and combining and arranging 
them with others already before the public, so as 
to form a complete and authentic account of those 
territories, a thorough acquaintance with which 
was deemed so desirable an object to the states- 
man, to the merchant, and to the man of letters. 
He hopes that he will be found to have executed 
the task he has imposed on himself with some 
degree of ability, and trusts that his errors of 
arrangement, or of style, will be forgiven, when 
he states that, since his undertaking the work, 
occupations of other kinds have crowded on him 
in unexpected succession; and that, though at a 
former period of his- life, his pursuits were of a 
literary turn, they have for several years past 



PREFACE, 

flowed in the channel of commerce, whence he 
has experienced a deficiency in facility of ex- 
pression, and fears that he may also be found 
wanting in propriety of language. 

With respect to the accuracy of his work, the 
author dares not pledge himself for the truth of 
every particular, where so many sources of various 
degrees of credibility have, of necessity, been 
resorted to ; but he has exercised his judgment in 
selecting and arranging them, so as confidently to 
assert, that what he has written he himself be- 
lieves to be true. He will feel highly obliged by 
any communications, either in addition to, or in 
confirmation or refutation of, any facts stated by 
him, from such of his countrymen who may visit 
Buenos Ayres; and having the pleasure of 
knowing several commercial men who have pro- 
ceeded thither, he trusts that from the communi- 
cations he has been promised by them, he will be 
able to correct such errors into which he may have 
fallen, in the event of a subsequent edition of 
his work being called for. 

There remains only now for him to express his 
gratitude for the liberal and friendly aid he has 
experienced in compiling this work, from gentle- 
men both of literary and commercial eminence, 
whose stores of intelligence have been accessible 
in a degree as flattering to his personal feelings, 
as it has been conducive to any degree of merit 
which his performance may be found to possess. 

Dec. 20, 180G. 



THE 



HISTORY 

OF 

BUENOS AYRES. 



CHAP. I. 

Introduction. — Difficulties of acquiring a knowledge 
of the Spanish colonies, — Outline of the plan pur~ 
sued in this zvork.' 

r jpHE importance and interest attached tb those 
extensive and wealthy territories, that are 
either actually possessed by, or claimed as appen- 
dages to, the crown of Spain, in America, have 
always been acknowledged ; whilst the want of au- 
thentic and accurate information respecting them, 
has been equally deplored by the man of letters, by 
the merchant, and by the statesman. The jealousy 
with which the government of Spain has endea- 
voured to lock up from the rest of the world every 
species of information relative to its transatlantic 
possessions, is well known. Robertson, whose 
indefatigability of research, as an historian, 
was equivalent to his abilities as a writer, com- 

B 



2 



Difficulties of acquiring a knowledge 



plains, in the Preface to his History of America, 
of being foiled in his attempts to obtain from the 
archives of Spain those documents relative to her 
colonies, with the contents of which he had formed 
the most sanguine expectations of being able to 
enrich his work. The papers regarding America, 
which are deposited amongst the records of the 
Spanish monarchy in the archivo of Simancas, 
near ValladoIid 5 one hunded and twenty miles 
from the seat of government, are stated to be so 
numerous as to fill the largest apartment in the 
archivo, and to compose eight hundred and seventy- 
three large bundles. Yet this treasure of historical 
and colonial knowledge is wholly inaccessible, and 
no admission into the archivo of Simancas is ever 
granted without a particular order from the king. 
Some years ago, however, the Spanish govern- 
ment seem to have relaxed, in some degree, from 
so much of their illiberal system as to have given 
access to these archives to Don Antonio Munoz, 
then occupied in compiling a work called an His- 
tory of the New W orld. Of this only one volume 
was completed, and Munoz was interrupted in 
the prosecution of his Work ; which contains some 
strictures upon the colonial policy of Spain, by 
which, probably, he gave orTence to the council 
of the Indies. He was debarred from all further 
access to the necessary documents, and interdicted 
from publishing any more of his history. Munoz 
is since dead, and the undertaking has perished 
with him. 



of the Spanish Colonies, 3 

That this system of concealment, than which 
nothing can be more illiberal, still predominates 
in the Spanish councils, is proved by a recent 
instance. The celebrated navigator Malespina, 
who, from the years 1792 to 1795, was employed 
by Spain to explore the Pacific Ocean, and her 
colonies washed by its waves, was, soon after his 
return to Cadiz, arrested and thrown into prison, 
as was the padre Gil> an ecclesiastic of a liberal 
and enlightened mind, who had undertaken the 
compilation of the voyage. All the papers and 
drawings belonging to the expedition were seized, 
and the botanists and other men of science, who 
accompanied Malespina, received orders to sus- 
pend their labours. Though part of the narrative 
was actually printed, the impression was sup- 
pressed ; and the details of that interesting voyage 
are buried, as so many others have before been, 
amongst the dusty archives, and in the mouldy 
recesses of the Spanish chancery. 

Notwithstanding, however, this superabundant 
caution, much has been communicated to the 
public from time to time, respecting the rich and 
fertile districts of Spanish America, though but 
imperfectly, at detached periods, and in isolated 
portions. Whilst, amidst the information thus 
detailed, the propensity of mankind to the mar- 
vellous has been amply gratified by the relation 
of countries of El Dorado, nations of Amazons, 
and tribes of Patagonians, the inventions, or ex- 
aggerations, of such travellers as have traversed 

b 2 



4 Outline of the plan of the work. 

the interior, or visited the coasts, of South 
America. 

To a nation like the British, eminent in com- 
mercial opulence, in colonial grandeur, and in 
maritime enterprize, and at a conjuncture when 
the eyes of every one is turned towards South 
America ; an account of the Spanish Dominions 
in that continent, divested of fable, and faithfully 
delineated, cannot but be acceptable. And 
though materials are at hand for a full description 
of the whole of the countries subjected to the 
banners of Castile in the other hemisphere, the 
recent brilliant acquisition by the British forces 
under General Beresford and Sir Home Popham 
of the very important settlement of Buenos Ay res, 
renders an account of the extensive viceroyalty to 
which it gives its name doubly desirable. 

This volume, which is compiled from the best 
sources in various languages, and from manu- 
script and private information, in the possession 
of the author, is therefore directed to the consider- 
ation of that part of South America which, since 
the year 1773, has constituted a separate province 
of Spanish America, under the denomination of 
the Viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres. 

But it is not sufficient to collect materials ; it 
is necessary likewise to give them an arrangement, 
by which distinct objects may be grouped in 
perspicuous continuity : and the following plan 
will be observed, in order to attempt the attain- 
ment of a method equally free from abrupt trans- 
ition, and from confused obscurity: — 



Outline of the plan of the work, 5 

After a few preliminary observations respecting 
the aboriginal population of America, the sources 
whence it has been conjectured to be derived, and 
the physical peculiarities of that part of the globe ; 
an enumeration will be given of all the Spanish 
possessions, and their geographical and political 
divisions ; and the attention of the reader will be 
more particularly directed to that portion now 
under consideration. A brief notice of the first 
discovery of the river La Plata, will be followed 
by such accounts as have come down to us rela- 
tive to the appearance, the government, the customs, 
and the propensities, of the Indians who were 
found in the country on its first occupation by 
the Spaniards. Their religion, their language, 
and their arts, will all pass in review; yet, as in 
a future part the same particulars, as relating to 
the unsubdued Indians, bordering upon the Spanish 
settlements, will come under consideration, the 
space to be devoted to the aboriginal inhabitants, 
whose customs, &c. may be supposed to be per- 
petuated amongst the tribes still existing, will be 
proportionably curtailed. When treating of these, 
some details respecting the gigantic race, sup- 
posed to inhabit the southern extremity of America, 
will not be found irrelevant ; and it will appear 
probable that a species of men of more than ordi- 
nary stature does certainly exist in those parts^ 
but that their size has been much exaggerated by 
the reports of those who have been either deceived 
by the warmth of their imaginations, or infected with 

B 3 



6 Outline of the plan of the work. 

the desire, too prevalent amongst travellers, of 
deceiving others. 

The grand features of the country will form the 
succeeding object of consideration. The length 
of course, the. impetuous currents, and the wide 
expanse, of the mighty rivers that water the 
interior, and unite to form the immense sestuary 
of La Plata, will be prominent objects. The 
boundless plains, with their singular lakes, their 
natural salt-pans, and interminable prospects of 
verdure and fertility ; the stupendous mountains 
which, towards the western side of the country, 
rise from gentle eminences into hills, and from 
hills into the loftiest mountains of the world \ 
with their precipices, their volcanos, their torrents, 
their mines, and their impenetrable forests, will 
be successively described ; and an account of the 
various climates, and diversity of soils, to be ob- 
served in these extensive regions, will close this 
chapter. 

The natural productions occupy the next place. 
In the vegetable kingdom, nature has been most 
lavish to South America; and countless tribes of 
useful plants and trees, intermingled with a few 
of deleterious quality, rise, flourish, and decay, 
little known and less sought after. Of the cul- 
tivated articles, little will here be said ; as they 
will be reserved till they come to be considered 
as objects of agriculture, or materials for commerce. 
Of the indigenous animals, few are of a ferocious 
or noxious kind ; whilst those imported from the 



Outline of the plan of the work. 7 

old continent have multiplied to an incalculable 
extent, and form one of the principal sources of the 
riches of Buenos Ayres ; which is testified by the 
immense quantity of hides annually exported from 
that emporium, and the acknowledged superiority 
of their quality above that of all other hides known 
in trade. The abundance of fish in the rivers, 
and on the sea-coasts, is a resource of moment ; 
and the facility with which the whale and seal 
fisheries may be carried on, is an object of con- 
siderable importance. Though there are no mines 
of gold or of silver in the immediate vicinity of 
Buenos Ayres, or of the river La Plata, yet the 
rich and celebrated province of Potosi, formerly 
a part of Peru, but, from being on the hither side 
of the mountains of Cordillera, latterly annexed 
to the jurisdiction of Buenos Ayres, will of course 
form part of the picture now offered to the public; 
and will tend to give some general idea of the 
wealthy territory to which it was formerly at- 
tached. 

After having thus given a general account of 
the country, a short history will be entered into 
of the first discovery of the river La Plata, of its 
original settlers, and progressive conquerors; of 
the gradual extension of discovery and conquest 
by which the province of Buenos Ayres came at 
length to border upon the dominions which the 
valour and ferocity of Pizarro and his companions 
had gained for Spain upon the shores of the Great 
South Sea ; after this will follow a brief account 

B 4 



S Outline of the plan of the work. 

of the rise, the progress, and the dissolution of 
the famous establishments of the Jesuits in Para- 
guay, forming an imperium in imperio^ unparalleled 
in the annals of the world. The historical account 
of the colony will be brought down to the present 
time, and concluded by a narrative of the late cap- 
ture of it by the British. 

The cities, the harbours, the forts, the settle- 
ments, and the missions scattered over the country, 
will be next described ; and proceeding from these 
to the plains, the agriculture both of the natives 
and of their Spanish masters, will be noticed, to- 
gether with their arts and manufactures. 

An entire chapter will be devoted to the impor- 
tant subject of commerce. The trade as carried 
on between Buenos Ayres and Spain ; that with 
Africa ; the contraband trade with the Portuguese 
in Brazil, and with the North Americans who fre- 
quent those seas ; and the interior commerce be- 
tween Peru and Chili, and the river La Plata, will 
be detailed. The various articles that are suited 
for the consumption of the country, and those 
produced, or found there calculated for exporta- 
tion, will be enumerated and described. Sketches 
will be given of some commercial adventures con- 
nected with the colony of Buenos Ayres, proposed 
to the enterprising spirit of British Merchants ; and 
some latent commercial advantages to be derived 
from this colony will be pointed out to the nation. 

The Spanish colonial government, their civil and 
military establishments, their fiscal regulations, 



Outline of the plan of the work, 9 

the revenues of the colony, &c. will next appear 
in rotation, K The state of society, the manners, 
the customs, and religious ceremonies, as well of 
the Spaniards, as of the Creoles, the Indians, the 
negroes, the mulattoes,themestices, and the infinite 
ramifications of colour and of cast, arising from 
the intermixture of these various races, will be 
followed by an account of those unsubdued In- 
dians, who are occasionally allies or enemies of 
their European neighbours, and who rove over the 
trackless plains that extend from Paraguay to the 
straits of Magellan. 

If the limits of the work will admit, it is in- 
tended next to introduce succinct accounts of such 
of the adjacent countries, as, though not included 
in the political denomination of the Viceroyalty of 
Buenos Ayres, have, nevertheless, natural rela- 
tions towards it, which make them objects of in- 
terest at the present time. Brazil, and the country 
long called Amazonia in the maps, in which the 
fabulous region of El Dorado was supposed to 
exist, on the north; Peru and Chili on the west; 
and the unexplored districts of Patagonia to the 
south ; with the Falkland islands and others, scat- 
tered in the Atlantic ocean, on the east; are those 
alluded to. 

In conclusion, some general reflections will be 
entered into, as to the advantages to be derived to 
this country by the possession of Buenos Ayres ; 
of itsimportance both in peace and in war; of the 
general .policy or impolicy of the extension of co- 



10 Outline of the plan of the work. 

lonial acquisition ; of the propriety of attempting 
further conquests in South America; and of the 
resets to be expected in a political, a philosophi- 
cal, and a moral point of view, in case the Spanish 
empire is rent asunder, and their American posses- 
sions, either severed from the metropolitan state by 
a foreign force, or by internal insurrection, ren- 
dered subject to another European power, or raised 
into independent existence. 



II 



CHAP. II. 

How America first became peopled — Physical pecu- 
liarities of that continent — Spanish dominions — 
their extent and geographical divisions — Buenos 
Aijres one of the most extensive and important. 

^ A RIO US have been the theories and specula- 
tions, some wild and fanciful, some ingenious, 
and a few rational and plausible, which have been 
promulgated by the learned, respecting the peopling 
of America. Infidelity long and obstinately looked to 
the distinct race of human beings that were found in 
that sequestered portion of the globe, as a proof 
that the whole of mankind could not have de- 
scended, as we are taught by the Mosaic account 
of the creation, from one common stock.* It was 

* Independent of revelation, and reverting solely to natural prin- 
ciples, nothing can be more convincing of the descent of all man- 
kind from one pair, than the cogent and logical arguments of the 
Jate Sir William Jones, in his discourse on the origin and families of 
nations. That nature, of which simplicity appears a distinguish- 
ing attribute, does nothing in vain, is a maxim in philosophy, and 
against those who deny maxims we cannot dispute; but, it is vain 
and superfluous, to do by many means what may be done by fewer ; 
and this is another axiom received into courts of judicature from the 
schools of philosophers : we must not therefore, says our great New- 
ton, admit more causes of natural things than those which are true, and 
sufficiently account for natural phenomena ; but, it is true that one pair, 
at least, of every living species must at first have been created', and 



12 How America jirst became peopled. 

the sheet-anchor of scepticism, as to this article of 
our belief; but it has lost its hold, and sin^e the 
great proximity of the two continents of Asia. and 
America, at their north-eastern and north-western 
extremities has been ascertained, multiplied proofs 
have arisen, that the latter was originally wholly, 
or for the greatest part, peopled from the former. 
It will be sufficient to enumerate some of the con- 
jectures formed on this subject to be convinced 
that it would be a waste of time to employ argu- 
ments for their confutation. Some have contended 
that the Americans are descended from the Ante- 
diluvian inhabitants of the earth, and that the de- 
structive deluge, of which Noah and his family are 
stated to be the sole survivors, did not extend to 
the western hemisphere, thus preposterously sup- 
posing rude, uncivilized tribes, scattered over an 
uncultivated wilderness, to be the most ancient 
race on the face of the earth. Some have sup- 
posed that America was originally united to the 

/ 

that one human pair was sufficient for the population of our globe 
in a period of no considerable length (on the very moderate suppo- 
sition of lawyers and political arithmeticians, that every pair of 
ancestors left, on an average, two children, and each of them two 
more), is evident from the rapid increase of numbers in geometrical 
progression, so well known to those, who have ever taken the 
trouble to sum a series of as may terms as they suppose generations 
of men in two or three thousand years. It follows that the author 
of nature created but one pair of our specie!}', yet, had it not been, 
amongst other reasons, for the devastations which history has re- 
corded of water and of fire, of war, famine, and pestilence, this 
earth would not now have had room for its multiplied inhabitants. " 



How America first hecame peopled. Ijf 

old continent* but severed from it, with all its in° 
habitants, animals, and productions, by some vio- 
lent concussion of nature, an earthquake, or a de-* 
luge. Others have attributed the commencement 
of its population to the chance aberration of a 
vessel from the shores of Europe or of Africa, 
driven by the violence of an easterly wind upon 
the American coast. There is hardly any nation 
to which some antiquary has not attributed the 
honour of peopling America. The ten tribes of 
Israel, after they were carried into captivity *; the 
Canaanites, the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, 
the Greeks, the Scythians, in ancient times, are 
supposed to have settled in this western world. 
The Chinese, the Japanese, the Swedes, the Nor- 
wegians, the Welsh f , the Spaniards, are said to 
have sent colonies thither in later times, at differ- 
ent periods, and on various occasions. Though 
the respective claims of these people re&t upon no 
better foundation than the casual resemblance of 
some customs, and the supposed affinity between 
a few words in their different languages, much 

* In some old Dutch maps even, the north-west part of America 
is made to stretch over very near to the land of Jesso, and is called., 
" Country of the ten tribes of the children of Israel." 

f Though there is no degree of probability in the conjecture that 
the Welsh contributed to the population of America; yet some 
weight appears due to the testimonies from which a conclusion has 
been formed that the Welsh prince Madoc discovered that continent 
about the year 1 1 70. The tradition is popular, and has lately be- 
come the subject of an epic poem by Mr. Southey, of considerable^ 
but very unequal, merit. 



H How America first became peopled. 

erudition and more zeal have been employed to 
little purpose in defence of these various systems. 

Late discoveries, however, having determined 
the actual distance between the two continents, 
to be no more than thirteen leagues, and that 
nearly in the middle of the strait which separates 
them, lie two islands from which both continents 
may be discerned, it requires no greater latitude 
of conjecture, or fancifulness of system, to attri- 
bute the population of America to the excursions 
or emigrations of the north-eastern tribes of Asia, 
than to deduce the original settlement of Britain 
from the opposite coasts of Gaul. Add to this, 
that the continents of Asia and America are usually 
joined together by ice during the winter ; and 
when we further consider the numerous resem- 
blances that have been found to exist, not alone 
in the manners, or religious rites, (which are vague 
and imperfect data, from the natural similarity 
that will arise in the customs and institutions of 
mankind when placed in similar climates and si- 
tuations), but also in the physical conformity, 
physiognomy, mental faculties, and languages, of 
the inhabitants of both continents at their re- 
spective extremities, the most sceptic must ac- 
knowledge that no source of equal probability can 
be resorted to, to account for the population of 
America, than that here pointed out. It has been 
stated that neither the annals nor the traditions of 
nations reach back to those remote ages, in which 
they took possession of the different countries in 



How America first became peopled, 1 5 

which they are now settled ; and that the people 
who occupy those regions in America which ap- 
proach nearest to the ancient continent, are so re- 
markably rude, that it is altogether vain to search 
among them for such information as might disco- 
ver the place whence they came, or the ancestors 
from whom they are descended. A recent intelli- 
gent traveller, however, who has, with persevering 
assiduity, penetrated to the Pacific Ocean, across 
the immense continent of North-west America, 
has collected and detailed the traditions received 
amongst the Chipewyans, one of the most nume- 
rous and most widely dispersed, of the wandering 
nations that inhabit that country, in which the 
most evident traces of an Asiatic origin, at an early 
period after the deluge, are discernable. " They 
believe that at the first, the globe was one vast and 
entire ocean, inhabited by no living creature, ex- 
cept a mighty bird, whose eyes were fire, whose 
glances were lightning, and the clapping of whose 
wings was thunder. On his descent to the ocean 
and touching it, the earth instantly arose, and re- 
mained on the surface of the waters. This omni- 
potent bird then called forth all the variety of ani- 
mals from the earth.* This tradition proceeds to 
relate, that the great bird having finished his work, 
made an arrow, which was to be preserved with great 

* Compare this with the Mosaic account of the creation : — 
" And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was 
upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of God moved upon the 
waters." Genesis, c. i. 2, et seq. 



16 Hoti America Jirst became peopled, 

care, and to remain untouched, but that theChipe- 
wyans were so devoid of understanding as to carrv 
it away, and the sacrilege so enraged the great 
bird, that he has never since appeared.* They 
have also a tradition that they originally came 
from another country, inhabited by very wicked 
people, and had traversed a great lake, which was 
narrow, shallow, and full of islands, where they 
had suffered great misery, it being always winter 
with ice and deep snow. They believe also that 
in ancient times their ancestors lived till their feet 
were worn out with walking and their throats with 
eating. f They describe a deluge when the waters 
spread over the whole earth, except the highest 
mountains, on the tops of which they preserved 
themselves." Introduction to Mackenzie 1 s Travels, 
p. CVIII. 

But although it appears probable that the major 
part of the inhabitants of America are derived 
from Tartar, or other Asiatic, origin, it is no less 
obvious that an intercourse between our continent 
and America might be carried on with facility 
from the north-west extremities of Europe. As 
early as the ninth century the Norwegians dis- 
covered Greenland, and planted colonies there. 
Greenland is separated from America by a very 
narrow strait ; the Esquimaux of Labrador per- 

* This appears to be an imperfect tradition of the original in- 
terdiction of the apple, and the infringement of it by man. 

f A tradition that seems to denote a recollection of antediluvian 
longevity. 



How America first became peopled. 17 

fectly resemble the Greenlanders in their aspect, 
dress, and mode of living; and a Moravian mis- 
sionary, well acquainted with the language of 
Greenland, having visited the country of the Es- 
quimaux, found, to his astonishment, that they 
spoke the same language with the Greenlanders. 
Thouo-h it is thus therefore to be conceded that 
the Esquimaux are, in all probability, descendants 
of the northern Europeans, yet, as they are the 
only people in America who bear any resemblance, 
either in their aspect or character, to their sup- 
posed progenitors, it is to them only that that 
ancestry can be ascribed. There is such a striking 
similarity amongst all the other inhabitants of 
America, from the southern confines of Labrador 
to Cape Horn, in their corporeal forms, and their 
mental qualities, that, notwithstanding the varieties 
occasioned by the influence of climate or the un- 
equal progress of improvement, they must be pro- 
nounced to be descended from one stock. It is 
farther remarkable, that in every peculiarity 
which characterises the Americans, they have 
some resemblance to the tribes scattered over the 
north-east of Asia, but almost none to the nations 
settled in the northern parts of Europe. The 
Asiatic emigrants seem therefore to have dispersed 
in every. direction, and to have spread themselves 
gradually over the whole of America. This ac- 
count of the progress of its population coincides 
also with the traditions of the Mexicans concerning 
their own origin. According to them, their 

C 



IS Physical peculiarities of America. - 

ancestors came from a remote country, situated 
to the north-wet t of Mexico, They point out the 
various stations as they advanced from this into 
the interior provinces,- and it is precisely the same 
route which they must have pursued if they had 
been emigrants from Asia. In describing the ap- 
pearance of their progenitors, their manners and 
habits of life at that period exactly delineate those 
of the rude Tartars, from whom they are here 
supposed to have sprung*- 

Leaving, however, this subject of conjecture 
and of controversy, the physical peculiarities of the 
new continent next attract our attention. Nature 
seems here to have carried on her operations upon 
a larger scale, and with a bolder hand. The 
mountains in America are much superior in height 
to those in the other divisions of the globe. The 
stupendous ridge of the Andes, no less remarkable 
for extent than elevation, rises, in different places, 
more than one third above the pike of Teneriffe, 
the highest land in the ancient hemisphere. — 
The rivers, 

to whose dread expanse 

Continuous depth, and wondrous length of course 
Our floods are rills, 

defy all comparison with the streams of the an- 
feksr continent. The Missisippi and St. Lawrence^ 
in trie northern, and the Maragnon, or Amazon,. 
>the Oronoco, and the Plata, in the southern por- 
tions of the new world, flow in such spacious 
channels, that, long before they feel the influence 



Physical peculiarities of America* 19 

of the tide, they resemble arms of the sea, rather 
than rivers of fresh water. 

The new world is of a form extremely favour- 
able to commercial intercourse, and possesses the 
same advantages for maritime communication as * 
the other hemisphere, without the intervening 
inconvenience of solid masses of continent un- 
broken by arms of the sea, and with few navigable 
rivers, such as present themselves in the im- 
mense peninsula of Africa, and the extended 
regions of Tartary and Siberia. The Gulph of 
Mexico may be considered as the counterpart of 
the Mediterranean, opening a maritime commerce 
with all the fertile countries by which it is en- 
circled ; the West-India islands are inferior in 
number, in magnitude, and in value, only to those 
in the Indian Archipelago ; and if ever the pro- 
gress of culture and of population should mitigate 
the extreme rigour of the climate in the more 
northern districts of America, Hudson^ Bay, and 
its extensive inlets, may become as conducive to 
commercial intercourse in that quarter of the globe 
as the Baltic is in Europe. But in the facilities for 
interior water-communication, both the northern 
and the southern portions of America have no 
parallel in the other hemisphere* The chain of 
Jakes and navigable rivers in North America have 
already been made subservient to an extended 
commerce. The interior parts of South America, 
which is encompassed on every side by the sea, 
except one narrow neck which divides the Atlantic 

c 2 



20 Physical peculiarities of America. 

from the Pacific Ocean, are rendered accessible 
by a number of large rivers, fed by so many aux- 
iliary streams, flowing in such various directions, 
that, almost without any aid from the hand of in- 
dustry and art, an inland navigation might be 
carried on from the river La Plata to the gulph of 
Darien. 

But what most distinguishes America from the 
other parts of the earth, is the peculiar temperature 
of its climate. It is cold that predominates; and 
the .rigour of the frigid zone extends over half of 
those regions which should be temperate by their 
position. Countries, where the grape and the fig 
should ripen, are buried under snow for one half of 
the year ; and lands, situated in the same parallel 
with the most fertile and best cultivated parts of 
Europe, are chilled by perpetual frosts. Yet this 
circumstance, though unfavourable to the extre- 
mities, is of singular benefit to the middle regions, 
of America, and especially to those now more par- 
ticularly under consideration. The cold, so gene- 
rally prevalent in the new world, mitigates the 
fervour of the torrid zone ; and, whilst the negro 
on the coast of Africa, is scorched with unremitting 
heat, the inhabitants of Peru, of Paraguay, and of 
Buenos Ayres, breathe a genial and temperate air, 
considerably milder than in those countries of Asia 
and Africa which lie in the same latitudes. 

Various causes combine to produce this pre- 
dominance of cold in the American hemisphere. 
The principal permanent one seems to be the ex- 



Spanish Colonies. 21 

tension of the land so much nearer towards the 
arctic pole than the shores of Europe and of Asia ; 
whence the cold north-westerly winds, passing 
over a dreary, elevated, and frozen country, ac- 
quire a piercing keenness which they retain in 
their progress through warmer climates. But 
history and experience likewise teach us, that in 
proportion as population and cultivation increase 
in new lands, the rigours of the climate abate ; 
and those countries which ancient writers have 
represented as scarcely habitable from the cold 
and inhospitable aspects they presented, are now 
the seats of mighty empires and of potent king- 
doms. It is therefore probable that the same 
effect will, as far as it may not be counteracted by 
insuperable physical causes, follow upon the pro- 
gressive improvement which is taking place in 
Canada and the United States of America ; and 
that the posterity of the present inhabitants will 
read, with some degree of incredulity, the accounts 
we transmit to them of the intense cold prevalent 
in their country when first settled. 

Quitting now the field of speculative discussion, 
it will first be proper to give a general geographi- 
cal idea of the whole of the Spanish dominions 
in America. — These consist, in North America, 
of 

East and West Florida, computed to be 
about six hundred miles in breadth, and about 
one hundred and thirty in length. The chief 

c 3 



22 Extent and geographical division 

town, Si. Augustine, is situated in latitude 30° N. 
and longitude 81° W. from London.* 

Mexico, or New Spain. The viceroyalty of 
Mexico formerly comprized the Floridas, and the 
Spanish West-India islands of Cuba, St. Domingo, 
and Porto Rico. Of these islands, however, the first 
and the last are now under the distinct govern- 
ment of a president and captain-general, resident 
at the Havannah, and amenable solely to the royal 
authority at Madrid ; whilst the portion which the 
Spaniards possessed of St. Domingo or Hispaniola, 
after having been ceded to France, now forms part 
of that political phenomenon, the Black empire of 
Hayti. The Floridas, however, still depend on 
Mexico, as did the province of Louisiana before 
those arrangements took place by which it has 
successively been transferred to France and to the 
United States of America. 

The whole of Mexico, which is subdivided into 
Old Mexico, New Mexico, and California, is com- 
puted to be two thousand one hundred miles in 
length, and one thousand six hundred in breadth. 
The capital of the whole, the ancient and celebrated 
city of Mexico, is situated in latitude 2G Q 0' N. 
and longitude 102° 35' W. Its other chief towns 

* The Floridas, though originally discovered, and first settled, by 
the Spaniards, have more than once changed masters. A treaty is 
supposed to be on foot at present, between the United States of 
America and Spain, for the transfer of them to the former, to 
whkh their geographical situation seems more appropriately to 
assign them.. 



• of the Spanish Colonies. "2J 

;are Acapuleo, Vera Cruz, and Guahmala, in Old 
Mexico ; Santa Ft, in Now -Mexico, and Montereu 
at the northern extremity o." Cal forma, 

Of South America, it is to be observed, that the 
•Spaniards claim the who]? of that continent, with 
the exception of the Portuguese settlements in 
Brazil, and the narrow slips occupied by the 
French, and the late Dutch, settlements on the 
coast of Guiana. They are far, however, from 
having the actual possession of all they claim ; and 
the Indies Irai'os, or unconquered- Indians, still 
retain a large portion of the territory of their 
ancestors. 

The Spanish possessions in South America were 
formerly wholly under the government of the vice- 
ro} 7 of Peru ; but the remote provinces suffered 
■great inconvenience from their distance from the 
-seat of government, a communication with which 
was, in some instances, obliged to be kept up for 
hundreds of miles through- trackless forests, and 
countries imperfectly explored. Some pro- 
vinces lay above two thousand miles from Lima, 
the residence of the viceroy ; and neither could 
justice be distributed, or succour afforded, to the 
inhabitants of districts so distant from the royal 
audience and the military council. To remedy 
these evils, another viceroyalty was established in 
1718, at Santa Fe de Bagota in the kingdom of 
JSiew Grenada ; the government of which extended 
over the provinces of Quito, Popayan, Choco, and all 
those known under the appellation of Terra Firma, 

c 4 



24 Extent and geographical division 

or Castilla del Oro. So vast, however, is the extent 
of Spanish America, that fresh subdivisions were 
found necessary. In 1731, the provinces of 
Venezuela, Macaraibo, Farinas, Ciimana, and 
Spanish Guiana, or New Andalusia, were sepa- 
rated from the kingdom of New Grenada, and put 
under the jurisdiction of a captain-general and 
president, whose seat of government is at Caraccas, 
and who is independent of all other authority but 
that of the king. The kingdom of Chili was also 
erected into a separate captain-generalship ; and 
in 1778, a fourth viceroyalty was established at 
Buenos Ayres ; comprehending all the Spanish 
possessions to the east of the western Cordillera,* 
and to the south of the river Maragnon. 

The following sketch, therefore, commencing at 
the northern part of South America, and proceed- 

* There are three chains of mountains that run from north to 
south, through South America, and are called by the Spaniards 
Cordilleras. First, that of Brazil, which, commencing nearly un- 
der the equator, runs to the Sierra or mountainous territory of Mal- 
donado, On the northern shore of the Plata. Secondly, the eastern 
one of Peru, which, originating in the mountains of Sta. Martha, 
runs towards the tropic, whence it takes an inclined direction to- 
wards the south-east, and terminates in the plains of the Gran 
Chaco. Thirdly, the western one, which, proceeding from North 
America, through the isthmus of Darien, ranges along the whole 
of the western coast to Cape Horn. The name of Andes, which 
has been extended to both the Cordilleras of Peru, and to the 
whole southern range, is derived from the name of a nation, the 
Antis, situated to the east of Cusco, and between the two ridges, 
subjugated by the Incasof Peru, who thence gave that name to the 
adjacent mountains. 



of the Spanish Colonies* 25 

ing in geographical progression, will be found to 
present the actual state of the Spanish dominions 
in that portion of the globe : — 
1 I. The Captain-generalship or presidency of 
Caraccas ; extending nearly eight hundred miles 
in length, from east to west, and to about five 
hundred miles of medium breadth from north to 
south. It is bounded on the east by the settle- 
ments which lately belonged to the Dutch in 
Guiana; to the south it is in part presumed to 
extend to the banks of the river Maragnon ; and 
in part bounded by the kingdom of New Grenada, 
which forms its western boundary ; whilst the 
waters of the Gulph of Mexico wash its northern 
shores. 

It comprehends the provinces of 

Venezuela ; chief towns, Caraccas, the capital, 
in latitude 10° 10' N. and longitude 67° 20' W. ; 
La Guiara, Porto Cavallo, Valencia, Coro, and 
Cor or a. 

Cum an A ; chief towns, Camana, in latitude 
10° 37' N. ; Cariaco, Barcelona, and Conception 
del Pao. 

The island of Margaretta : in latitude 
10 e 56' N. and between 65° and 66° of W. lon- 
gitude. 

Maracairo ; chief towns, Maracaibo and 
Gibraltar, 

Varinas; ch ief town, Farinas. And 
Spanish Guiana, or New Andalusia; chief 
town, St. Thomas, on the Oronoco. 



26 Extent and geographical division 

II. The viceroyalty of New Grenada ; length 
about one thousand miles from north to south, 
and medium breadth about six hundred miles from 
east to west. It is bounded on the north, by the 
Gulph of Mexico, on the east, by those provinces 
that have been separated from it, as before ob- 
served, to constitute the presidency of Caraccas, 
and by the unexplored regions on the banks of 
the Maragnon and Oronoco, on the south, by Peru, 
and on the east, by the Pacific sea and the province 
of Veragua, part of the kingdom of Mexico. 

Its subdivisions are % 

New Grenada ; chief towns, Santa Fe de Ba- 
gota, the capital, in latitude 3° 35' N. and lon- 
gitude 73° W. ; Pampeluna, Truxillo, Tucuj/o, and 
Merida* 

Rio de la Hacha ; chief town, Rio de la 
Hacha, in latitude 11° 6' N. and long. 72° 20' W. 

Santa Martha ; chief town, Santa Martha, 
in latitude 1 1° 35' N. and longitude 74° 12' W. 

Carthagena; chief town, Carthagena, in la- 
titude 10° 30' N. and longitude 75° 25' W. 

Choco; chief town, Bonaventura, in latitude 
3° 30' N. 

Popayan; chief town, Popayan, in latitude 
2° 40' N. and longitude 74° 35' W. And 

Quito ; chief towns, Quito, in latitude 0° 20' S. 
and longitude 77° W. ; Zamora, Paita, and Guay- 
aquil. 

III. The Viceroyalty of Peru, extending about 
thirteen hundred miles from north to south, and 



of the Spanish Colonies* 27 

in medium breadth nearly three hundred miles 
from east to west. The river Guyaquil divides it 
from New Grenada on the north ; the depopu- 
lated territory of Atacama separates it from Chili 
on the south ; the Pacific Ocean forms the western 
line of its coasts; and the mountains of the Cordil- 
lera, with desert or unexplored countries, are its 
boundaries on the east. 

It is subdivided into the provinces of 

Lima, or Los Reyes; chief towns, Lima, the 
capital, in latitude 12° 6' S. and long. 77° 15' W.; 
Callao, the port of Lima ; Casco, the ancient capital 
of the Incas ; and Truccillo. And 

Arequipa ; chief town, Arica, in latitude 
18« 27' S. and longitude 70° 20' W. 

IV. The oaptain-generalship of Chili, or Chile. 
Jn length, about one thousand two hundred miles 
from north to south, and in medium breadth about 
two hundred and fifty miles from east to west. 
Like Peru, which it adjoins to the north, it is 
bounded by the great South Sea on the west, and 
on the east by the range of the southern Cordillera^ 
(the province of Chiquito, beyond the mountains, 
which formerly made part of it, now appertaining 
to the government of Buenos Ayres) ; whilst to the 
south lie those inhospitable and unexplored re- 
gions of Patagonia which stretch beyond the 
islands of Chiloe. 

There are two provinces of Chili: 

St. Jago, or Chili Proper; chief towns, St. 
Jago, the capital, in latitude 33° 12' S. and longi- 



Extent and geographical division 

tude 69° 40' W. ; Valparaiso ; La Serena, or Co- 
quimbo ; and Copiapo. And 

Conception, or Imperial; chief towns, Con- 
ception, in latitude 36° 20' S. and longitude 7i>° 
15' W.; Imperial-, Baldivia; and Villa Rica. And 

V. The Viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres ; which 
is the most extensive, as well as, in many respects, 
the most important, of all. It extends in a direct 
line from Cape Lobos, which may be taken as its 
southern boundary, to the farthest northern set- 
tlements on the Paraguay, upwards of sixteen 
hundred miles; and from Cape St. Anthony, at 
the mouth of the Plata to the ridge of mountains 
that separate it from Chili, nearly one thousand 
miles. By the union to it of the provinces of 
Charcas and Chiquito, it forms a compact body of 
land, nearly square; and stretches through all the 
variety of climates to be found in six and tw r enty 
degrees of latitude. Its general boundaries are, 
Amazonia, or the country of the independent In- 
dians of the river Amazon and its vicinity, on the 
north ; Brazil and the Atlantic Ocean on the east; 
Patagonia on the south ; and Peru and Chili on 
the east. 

The provinces of which this viceroyalty is com- 
posed, are 

Buenqs Ayres, or Rio de la Plata, of which 
the chief towns are, Buenos Ayres, the capital, in 
latitude 34° 35 S. and longitude 57° 24' W.; 
Santa Ft ; Montevideo and Maldonado, on the op- 
posite shores of the river. 



of the Spanish Colonies. 29 

Paraguay, including the subdivisions, or sepa- 
rate provinces of Parana^ Guiara, and Uragua; 
chief town, Assumption, in latitude 24° 47' S. and 
longitude 59° 3d W. 

Tucumax ; chief towns, San Jago del Esfero, 
in latitude 27° 40' and longitude 66°; and Cordova. 

Los Charcas, or Potosi, formerly part of 
Peru ; and comprehending the new district of 
Santa Cruz de la Sierra; chief towns, La Plata, 
in latitude 19° 33' S. and longitude 66° 30' W. 
Potosi , Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and jL« Par. And 

Cmiquito, or Cuyo, formerly part of Chili ; 
chief towns, Mendoza, in latitude 34° 20' S. and 
longitude 68° 25' W.; and >SV/?2 Juan de la Frontera. 

This short abstract of the whole of the Spanish 
South American possessions, will afford an idea 
of their immense extent, and of the incalculable 
consequence of the acquisition of Buenos Ayres ; 
which, with the rivers that unite to form the grand 
entrance called the Rio de la Plata, and the other 
settlements in its vicinity, afford an inlet to nearly 
the whole of the remainder, and may be considered 
as the keys of all the vaunted treasures of South 
America. To that settlement, therefore, and its 
dependencies will the attention of the reader, it is 
to be hoped not unprofitably, be directed in the 
following pages. 



30 



CHAP. III. 

Of the original inhabitants of Paraguay — Their 
bodily constitution — Menial faculties — Domestic 
and political state — Warfare — Agriculture 
and arts — Religious ceremonies, and detached 
customs. 

^JpHE accounts that have been transmitted to us 
of the original inhabitants of South America, 
are, in a great measure, vague, and imperfect. 
The adventurers, both Spaniards and Portuguese, 
who first visited the new continent, and who had 
opportunities of observing its various tribes whilst 
intire, and unsubdued, and before any change had 
been made in their ideas or manners by an inter- 
course with their new visitors, were by no means 
calculated to observe, or to record, the animated 
scene of novelty that passed too transiently before 
them. Mostly illiterate and ferocious, seeking 
with avidity, those treasures alone of gold and sil- 
ver that dazzled the eyes of all Europe, and at the 
same time filled with a barbarous enthusiasm for 
the extermination of infidels, they felt not the in- 
clination; and surrounded by incessant danger, 
and struggling with innumerable hardships ; they 
had not the leisure, requisite for speculative in- 
quiry, or circumstantial description. But not 
only their incapacity, but also the.,prejudices of 



Original inhabitants of Paraguay, 3i 

the Spaniards, render their accounts of the people 
of America very defective. Nor must we with 
more implicit credence than we give to the early 
conquerors of America, rely upon the subsequent 
relations, of soldiers, traders, buccaneers, and mis- 
sionaries. Though these obstacles, therefore, lie 
in the way of such as would inquire into the original 
state of the Americans, when we compare former 
relations with the observations of more recent and 
more intelligent travellers, as to the present state 
of those Indians that yet retain their indepen- 
dence, as correct an idea perhaps may be formed 
of the aborigines of South America, as circum- 
stances will admit. 

Though the Spaniards discovered two nations in 
America, the Mexicans and the Peruvians, who 
were considerably advanced in the arts of civilized 
life, and formed states, whose potency and re- 
nown, were not only celebrated through the new 
world, but have been deemed subjects of compa- 
rison with the,,mightiest empires of ancient times ; 
the greater part of the South American Indians, 
and particularly the inhabitants of those countries 
we are describing, are respresented as rude and 
uncivilized tribes, w$<J and ferocious cannibals; 
addicted, by the accounts of the missionaries, to 
the grossest vices, with few notions of religion, 
and though possessed of many of the virtues in- 
here it to the state of a savage, yet, in general, 
destitute of the usual characteristic of such, hos- 
pitality. But, ferocious and untameable as they 



32 Constitution of body 

are represented, how shall we reconcile such ac- 
counts to the tractability and voluntary submis- 
sion, of so many tribes of them to the mild and pa- 
triarchal government of the Jesuits in Paraguay ? 
With the feelings common to the human race, they 
doubtless resisted violence and oppression ; whilst 
the empire of reason and humanity soon obtained 
its due sway over them, when clothed in the gar- 
ments of persuasion and insinuation. 

Three centuries have now nearly elapsed since 
the river La Plata was first discovered, and access 
to the countries watered by its various branches, 
opened to the avidity of Europeans. It was in the 
year 1516, that Juan de Solis first entered the 
river, and in the year 1526, that the first settle- 
ment was made by Sebastian Cabot ; but as the 
particulars of these events will come more properly 
under the head of history, the dates are merely 
noticed in this place, that the portraits here given 
of the Indians at that time, may not be confounded 
with the altered traits to be delineated, when their 
present situation is discussed. 

The corporeal constitution of the Americans in 
general is described as inferior to that of the other 
nations of the globe ; feeble and unnerved, though 
of a full size, strait, and well-proportioned ; and 
their mental abilities have been supposed to be 
congenial to their bodily conformity. The colour 
common to the whole race of man in the new 
world from Hudson's Bay to Terra del Fuego, is a 
copper-colour or reddish brown, much less diver- 



of the aboriginal Indians. 3$ 

sified by the influence of climate, than the complec- 
tion of the various inhabitants of the old continent ; 
and where any diversity appears, it is not in pro- 
portion to their distance from the equator, but ac- 
cording to the degrees of elevation of the territory 
which they inhabit. Their hair is black, long, 
coarse, and uncurled. It has been an opinion ge- 
nerally received that they have naturally no beards, 
and the want of this symbol of virility has been 
considered as a mark of degradation, and an effect 
of the same causes that rendered their frames less 
robust, their minds less active, and their animal 
desire less fervent, than those of the other races of 
mankind. But it has recently been doubted, whe- 
ther this is not an artificial conformity ; and those 
best acquainted with Indian habits and customs, 
assert, that it arises from the eradication, at the 
earliest appearance, of every hair on the chin. How 
mi a the constant observance of this custom, in 
the course of ages, might produce a physical defi- 
ciency or thinness of beard in a whole race, is left 
for physiologists to discuss. But it does not now 
appear in that distinctive light, in which the 
beardless countenances and smooth skins of the 
Americans were considered, at their first dis- 
covery. 

But a disquisition as to the causes that may have 
produced such varieties in the human race, as per* 
haps, have improperly been described as character* 
istic of the Americans alone, whilst active obser- 
vation might probably find them existing in other 

D 



34 Stature and appearance, 

parts of the globe, in Asia, and the numerous 
islands of the south sea, would lead to an extent 
that is incompatible with the plan of this work. 
It must suffice, therefore, to describe the original 
Indians of Paraguay and the plains of La Plata, as, 
they have been represented by the early naviga- 
tors who visited the coasts, and the conquerors 
who traversed and laid waste the interior of the 
country. 

Though, in general, they were of middling sta- 
ture, it was no uncommon thing to find indivi- 
duals amongst them of extraordinary size, and 
some tribes are stated to have been found rising 
to an almost gigantic height. Occasion will be 
taken in another place to animadvert on the va- 
rious accounts that have been given of those men 
of extraordinary bulk, who have, under the deno- 
mination of Patagonians, embellished the narra- 
tives of travellers, and given ample scope to the 
ratiocinations of philosophers. One tribe, the 
CaaiquaSy is said to have been, almost all, hump- 
backed and bownecked, whilst their women were 
nearly as white as the Spaniards; and though in 
general . thick legs and joints predominated, an- 
other tribe was known by the Indian appellation 
of Sziripc/iaquins, which signifies ostrich-feet, be- 
cause their legs had no calf, and their feet all to 
the heels, resembled those of the ostrich. Hence., 
they were remarkably swift-footed ; indeed all the 
Indians possessed great powers of agility, and 
surprising feats of pedestrian exertion, both as to 



Intellectual faculties ', 35 

speed, and length of course, are recorded of them. 
The general character of their countenance is de- 
scribed to be, a very small forehead, covered with 
hair towards its extremities, as far as the middle 
of the eyebrows ; eyes, black or hazel, small, but 
capable of discerning objects at a great distance ; 
a thin nose, small, and bending towards the upper 
lip ; lips thick, and ears large ; the face upon 
the whole, round, and farther removed, perhaps, 
than that of any other people., from an oval shape ; 
at the first aspect a South American appears to be 
mild and innocent, but on a more attentive view, 
something wild, distrustful, and sullen may be 
discovered in his countenance, 

The limited state of the intellectual faculties of 
the Americans, so much insisted on by writers, as 
a proof of their inferiority in the scale of human 
beings, seems, upon a closer investigation, to be 
nothing more than the natural result of their un- 
improved and uncivilized situation. The Mexi- 
cans and the Peruvians are striking examples of 
their capacity to emerge from their otherwise ge- 
neral ignorance and imbecility ; for though the 
relations of the magnificence, the arts, and the ci- 
vilization of those nations are often exaggerated, 
and sometimes fabulous, enough remains to prove 
their title to a distinguished place in the history of 
man, and their present descendants, if not held in 
the severest and depressive bondage by the 
Spaniards, would be found capable of as much, or 
greater, exertion of intellect than tlreir oppressors. 

D 2 



36 



Vices and virtues^ 



In situations where no extraordinary efforts* 
either of ingenuity or labour, are requisite in or* 
der to satisfy the simple demands of nature, the 
powers of the mind continue almost dormant and 
unexercised. The numerous tribes scattered over 
the rich plains of South America, came under this 
description. Their vacant countenances and in- 
expressive eyes, their listless inattention and total 
ignorance of subjects, which seem to be the first 
which should occupy the thoughts of rational 
beings made such impression upon the Spaniards, 
when the^ first beheld these rude people, that they 
could not believe that they belonged to the hu- 
man species, and it required the authority of a pa- 
pal bull to counteract the opinion, and to convince 
them that the Americans were entitled to the pri- 
vileges of humanity. 

Contradictory accounts have reached us of the 
dispositions of the Indians of Paraguay. In one 
place they are represented as naturally stupid, 
cruel, and inconstant ; treacherous, excessively 
voracious, and cannibals; addicted to drunken- 
ness, and void of all manner of foresight or precau- 
tion, even in the most indispensable concerns of 
life ; lazy and indolent beyond expression ; and r 
excepting a few, whom the lust of plunder or 
revenge, had rendered rather furious than brave, 
most of them were deemed as cowardly as they 
were impotent. In another, some of them are said 
to have been found possessed of great penetration 
and judgment, to be lovers of truth, harmless and 



of the aboriginal Indians. 37 

sincere, and to be easily reconciled to labour; 
whilst the Spaniards, in many instances, found 
that they could defend the land of their inherit- 
ance, with an obstinacy and bravery that reluc- 
tantly yielded to the superior discipline and more 
destructive weapons of their invaders, and repeat- 
edly retaliated their injuries upon their oppres- 
sors.* 

Drunkenness is a destructive vice for which the 
savage tribes of North America are indebted to 
their European visitors, the poison of whose spi- 
rituous liquors is rapidly disseminating extinction 
amongst them. But throughout South America, it 
is not an imported, but an indigenous, propensity. 
They prepared a fermented and inebriating liquor 
called Chica, which still forms the favourite be- 
verage of all the native tribes, and which will be 
described in another place, anterior to their dis- 
covery ; and both their scenes of festivity, and their 
clamorous mournings, were respectively enlivened 
and dissipated by the most brutal intoxication. 

The gratification of the sexual appetite, though 
less a physical necessity amongst the Americans, 
than in the ardent African, the luxurious Hindoo, or 
even the polished European ; was not restricted 
by many bands of decency or decorum, and nei- 

* Father Osorio, speaking of some of the Indians, expressed hi« 
surprise at the nobleness of their sentiments, the politeness of their 
manners, the sprightliness of their genius, the penetration of their 
understanding, the modesty of their behaviour, the prudence of their 
conduct^ and their great bravery. 

P 3 



38 



Domestic state, 



ther virgin nor conjugal chastity were objects of 
estimation. Their feelings and habits in this re- 
spect, naturally lead to a consideration of their do- 
mestic state. In most instances, the man confined 
himself to one wife, whilst in some tribes poly- 
gamy was practised, and in all, the caciques or 
chiefs were allowed a greater latitude in this re- 
spect, than their subjects. In none, however, was 
the marriage-union considered as a permanent and 
inviolable engagement ; natural levity, and the de- 
sire of variety, prompted frequent dissolutions of 
the slight bands by which the sexes were held to- 
gether, and in all cases, the woman suffered by 
the operation of this custom. The degradation 
of the sex rendered prostitution amongst the un- 
married females, neither a crime nor a disgrace ; 
and amongst some tribes, even pregnancy pre- 
vious to marriage was considered an essential re- 
quisite, as indicating that quality of fecundity 
which was the purpose of the union. In the ar- 
ticle of matrimonial fidelity, as the men were not 
nice, so were the women not scrupulous. A 
sound beating of the offending wife, or a concilia- 
tory present from the detected gallant, generally 
obliterated the recollection of an indiscretion ; 
whilst it was not uncommon for them to give up, 
their wives to the temporary possession of others, 
and sometimes, at the command of their jugglers 
or wizards, to send their wives into the woods to 
prostitute themselves, from motives of supersti- 
tion, to the first persons they met. 



Dress ) '<fyc. of the Indians. 39 

In proportion as the hands of conjugal union are 
loose, will the tenderness of parental, and the obedi- 
ence of filial, affection be relaxed. The severe labour 
and heavy burthens imposed upon the weaker sex, 
made artificial abortion and infanticide of frequent 
recurrence ; and though some attention was bestow- 
ed in educating the boys, for the manly occupations 
of hunting and of warfare, it seems to have been 
more the care of the community in general, than 
of the individual parents ; whilst, conscious of 
their own liberty and impatient of restraint, the 
youth were accustomed to act as if wholly inde- 
pendent. Their parents were not objects of 
greater regard than other persons ; they treated 
them always with neglect, and often with such 
harshness and insolence, as to fill those who were 
witnesses of their conduct with horror. 

Though some tribes wandered through their fo- 
rests, with little other covering than the most re- 
laxed modesty seemed absolutely to require, and 
others in a complete state of nudity ; a few dis- 
played considerable ingenuity in the fabrication 
of garments, though uncouth, adapted to their 
wants, and though fanciful, calculated to meet 
their ideas of ornament. The skins of animals 
formed into cloaks, aprons, hats, and boots, of 
rude manufacture, constituted the basis of their 
dress ; and feathers, shells, and berries, with some 
trinkets of silver and of copper, procured from 
their more civilized neighbours in Peru, were the 

D 4 



40 



Political state 



trappings of martial parade, or the decorations of 
female coquetry. 

The political state of savages depends, in a great 
measure, upon their modes and means of subsist- 
ence. In South America, several tribes were found 
dependent entirely upon the bounty of nature. — 
The Caiquas, the Moxos, and others, were unac- 
quainted with every species of cultivation. The 
spontaneous produce of the earth, the roots, the 
fruits, the berries, and the seeds, which they 
gathered in the woods or on the plains, together 
with lizards and other reptiles, which multiply 
amazingly with the heat of the climate in a fat 
soil, moistened by frequent rains and abundant 
inundations, supplied them with food during some 
part of the year. At other times, they subsisted by 
fishing ; and nature seems to have indulged the 
indolence of the South American tribes, by the 
liberality with which she ministers, in this way, 
to their wants. The vast rivers of this region 
abound with an infinite variety of fish. The lakes 
and marshes, formed by the annual overflowing 
of the waters, are filled with their different species, 
where they remain shut up, as in natural reser- 
voirs, for the use of the inhabitants ; and in some 
places they swarm in such shoals, that they are 
caught without either art or industry. In some 
parts, however, hunting was the favourite occu- 
pation, and the principal resource for the provisions 
of the inhabitants ; and in others, agriculture was 



of the aboriginal Indians. 41 

practised in a manner more or less rude. As in 
these pursuits, more ingenuity, more activity, 
more exertion, and more perseverance is requisite, 
than in the occupations of fishermen, we find a 
proportionately increased degree of stability of 
character, and policy of institution, attributed to 
those who principally subsisted by the chace, or 
occasionally resorted to the practice of hus- 
bandry. 

With various modifications, arising not only 
from these causes, but also from the diversity of 
climate, and of territory they inhabited, the form 
of government amongst the Indians of Paraguay, 
appears to have been the following : — 

Caciques, in general hereditary, yet with those 
occasional interruptions which cannot fail to take 
place in barbarous nations more frequently than 
in those esteemed civilized, were the heads of their 
respective tribes. Valour, or eloquence, originally, 
no doubt, raised the caciques to the dignity they 
enjoyed ; and the same qualifications, at times, 
when possessed in a superior degree by an am- 
bitious warrior, or a turbulent orator, would in- 
terrupt the regular line of succession. But such 
depositions were without bloodshed, and less fre- 
quent in proportion as the country enjoyed tran- 
quillity, or the means of existence were plentiful. 
The prerogatives which the caciques possessed 
were by no means despicable in the eyes of Indians, 
whose pleasure was repose, and whose enjoyments 
were confined to the gratification of appetite. The 



42 Political state 

caciques had a right to the labour of their subjects, 
and to an abundant supply of provisions from the 
exertions of others : they were not restricted, in 
those tribes where polygamy was not allowed to 
the common people, in the number of their wives; 
and in some tribes, the ancient disgraceful feudal 
custom of Europe, the right of defloration of the 
brides of their subjects, was found established.— 
All the sons of caciques had a right to assume the 
title, and establish a separate community, if they 
could get any Indians to follow them ; but it is 
obvious, that, unless a greater increase of popu- 
lation took place than was generally consistent 
with the life and habits of the savages, this right 
would be but little exercised. One custom of the 
Guay citrus deserves to be noticed. The children 
of the cacique, as soon as they were born, were 
committed to the care of trusty persons, ap- 
pointed by the community, and sent to distant 
places to be educated ; and during the course 
of their tuition they were very seldom seen by 
their parents. 

All differences and injuries were, or ought to be, 
submitted to the decision, and referred to the re- 
dress, of the caciques ; who, in some tribes, arbi- 
trarily punished with death, and in others, advised 
with the old men and wizards as to the infliction 
of chastisement for offences ; but, notwithstanding 
the authority of the cacique, the party aggrieved 
frequently sought to do himself justice to the best 
of his ability; whilst, when the offender was too 



of the aboriginal Indians. 43 

powerful, he often escaped with impunity. The 
people encamped, marched, or travelled from place 
to place, to settle, to hunt,., or to make war, under 
the orders of their chiefs; but in all measures of 
importance, it seems, that the principal Indians 
of the tribe were previously consulted. 

It appears to have been a general maxim, or 
kind of law of nations, amongst them, that no 
Indian, or body of Indians, ought to live without 
the protection of some cacique ; those who ac- 
knowledged a chief considering it as incumbent on 
them to destroy, or make slaves of, those who did 
( not conform to this established rule. 

The accounts of the existence of a nation of 
women, in the interior of South America, governed 
by a singular policy, and resembling the fabulous 
amazons of antiquity, are deserving of no credit;* 

* The following account, given by Ribera, who, in 1543, went 
up a branch of the Paraguay as far as a nation called Urtuezez, 
seems to have been the foundation on which whatever has been 
narrated or invented, relative to the supposed amazons of America, 
has been built. Examining some Indians separately, who had 
come to visit him, they all unanimously told him, that, at ten days 
march to the north-west, there were large towns inhabited by wo- 
men, who had great quantities of white and yellow metal, and 
were governed by a woman, whom the nations in her neighbour- 
hood greatly feared and respected ; that these women made use of 
nothing but what was made of white metal ; and that on the road 
to them there was a nation of very little men, unable to make head 
against the women, who often invaded their country; but that, 
however, at a certain season of the year, the women sent for some 
of these little'men to have children by them ; that they kept the 
girls themselves, but sent the boys, when weaned, back to their 



44 



Political state, and 



yet individual female warriors were not uncommon 
amongst the Indians, and many instances are re- 
corded of their intrepidity in battle. Amongst 
the Urimaguas, women were regularly trained to 
the use of arms. 

It would be a dry and uninteresting task, to 
detail the various appellations, by which the dif- 
ferent tribes of Indians in Paraguay are distin- 
guished, in the narratives of their conquerors. A 
list of barbarous and uncouth names, some of 
which, from the extinction of the people they be- 
longed to, are obsolete, and others of no conse- 
quence from the pettiness of the tribes, would be 
equally unmeaning and uninstructive. A few of 
the most considerable will be enumerated when the 
present state of the Indians comes to be reviewed. 
Neither would the languages, or dialects, of those 
numerous tribes be now an object of interest, could 
sufficient materials be collected for a satisfactory 
account of them. Of the present language qf 

fathers; and that beyond the country of these women, there were 
several numerous nations of black men with beards. The Indians, 
it is stated, had heard these particulars from their fathers, but had 
not themselves had an opportunity of witnessing them ; but their 
neighbours had given them the same account, adding, that all those 
black men were very well dressed, had large houses built of earth 
and stones, and white and yellow metal in such plenty that all their 
vessels and utensils were made of one or the other. The Spaniards 
long placed confidence in these reports, and incessant endeavours 
were vainly made to discover the countries of the amazons, of the 
little men, and of the black men. 



Warfare of the Indians. 45 

some of the natives, specimens will be given in 
the progress of the work. 

The initiation of their youth as warriors, and 
of their soldiers as leaders, though not accom- 
panied with the severe tests of fortitude that dis- 
tinguished the similar ceremonies of the tribes 
bordering on the Oronoco, was nevertheless an 
arduous trial. Torments of Various kinds were 
inflicted, and incisions and punctures made in the 
most sensible parts. If the boy, for at sixteen 
the first step to military preferment was taken, 
submitted with patience and with fortitude, he 
was painted red, and pronounced a warrior. At 
twenty, a similar but more severe ceremony took 
place ; after which, painted with different colours, 
the noviciate appeared as a veteran, and was pro- 
nounced worthy of leading his countrymen to 
battle. The petty wars, and partial hostilities that 
prevailed between the numerous independent and 
unconnected tribes of South America, resembled 
those of all people similarly situated. Invidious 
surprise was more resorted to than open attack ; 
and the most vigilant scout, and most dexterous 
ambuscader, were amongst the most reputed of 
their warriors. So well calculated were some of 
their spies for the service in which they engaged, 
and who penetrated into the inmost of the Spanish 
encampments, crawling upon their bellies and 
elbows, and resembling trees or logs, that some of 
the Spaniards were weak enough to think that, by 
some magic power, they could assume the forms 



46 Warfare and cannibalism 

of domestic animals, in order to escape the vigi- 
lance of their guards. The towns of the Indians 
are described as having been surrounded and pro- 
tected by a fortification of pallisades. 

The Spaniards have described them, in general, 
as cowardly and treacherous enemies, incapable 
of conduct and of discipline ; butclubs, bows, ar- 
rows, and lances, the usual weapons of savages,; 
could not withstand the thunder of artillery t or the 
force of steel, and the impetuosity of cavalry. — \ 
Frequently, however, they resisted their invaders 
with success; and a remarkable instance of con- 
duct and discipline was displayed by the Chilian 
Indians, under the conduct of one of their veteran 
caciques. Indignant at the constant defeat of his 
countrymen by a handful of strangers, he divided 
his forces into thirteen divisions, of one thousand 
each, placing them behind each other in regular 
column. He ordered that, when the first thou- 
sand should be routed, they should not fall back 
on the second, but retreat by the wings, and form 
themselves again in rear of the whole ; by the 
time, therefore, that the other twelve had suc- 
cessively been routed and retreated, the first body 
was fresh and again equal to the encounter ; per-, 
severing in this manoeuvre, the Spaniards could: 
make no impression; fatigued and dispirited, they 
attempted to extricate themselves, but were, 
with their general, Baldivia, overpowered and 
massacred. 

The custom of scalping their fallen enemies, 



of the aboriginal Indians. 47 

though niost prevalent amorigt the North- Ameri- 
can Indians, was also found to exist in the warlike 
customs of the inhabitants of Paraguay. But 
that which principally distinguished them, and 
awakened the greatest horror and antipathy of the 
Spaniards, was their inhuman feasts upon the 
bodies of their prisoners, whom they reserved, 
fattened, and slaughtered, for the festival that 
followed a successful enterprise of war. The ex- 
istence of cannibalism has been occasionally 
doubted ; but the undeniable testimonies, as to 
its prevalence in various and remote parts of the 
globe, are too strong and too decisive, now to ad- 
mit of any doubts on the subject. Yet it has 
never been, as some authors have imagined, a 
scarcity of food that has prompted, or necessitated, 
these horrid repasts. Human flesh was never 
used as common food in any country ; and the 
various relations of people who reckoned it 
amongst the stated means of subsistence, flow 
from the credulity and mistakes of travellers. 
The rancour of revenge first instigated the savage 
to this barbarous action ; and the fiercest hordes 
devoured none but prisoners taken in war, or such 
as were regarded as their enemies. This is con- 
firmed by two remarkable circumstances that 
occurred in the conquest of different provinces. 
In the expedition of Narvaez into Florida, in the 
year 1528, the Spaniards were reduced to such an 
extremity of famine, that, in order to preserve 
their own lives, they eat such of their companions 



48 Agriculture and manufactures 

as happened to die. This appeared so horrible td 
the natives, who were accustomed to devour none 
but prisoners, that it filled them with disgust and 
indignation against the Spaniards. The other 
instance occurred during the siege of Mexico ; 
when, though the Mexicans ravenously fell upon 
the bodies of the Spaniards and the Tlascalans 
that fell into their hands, the utmost rigour of 
the famine which they suffered could not induce 
them to touch the dead bodies of their own 
countrymen. 

Little can be said of the arts or manufactures 
of the Paraguay Indians. Some of their tribes, 
it has been already remarked, possessed a kind of 
rude practice of agriculture. Manioc and maize, 
of which the prolific earth yielded two crops in a 
year, were the principal articles to which they 
paid any attention, whilst yams or potatoes some- 
times also came in for a share ; though the sugar- 
cane, tobacco, and rice, are stated to have formed 
part of the husbandry of the Chiquitos. The manu- 
facture of their arms, with instruments, which, 
from their ignorance of iron, must have been of 
inefficient duration, and tedious operation ; the 
weaving of a few mats and hammocks,'* from 
pushes, or grass; and the preparation of their 

* The invention of hammocks originated with the Indians of 
South America, who thus slung their beds upon posts, to prevent 
the attack of noxious reptijes during their repose. The original 
Indian appellation throughout the country is hamac i which, with- 
the invention itself, has been adopted by Europeans* 



Religious institutions. 49 

inebriating liquor cliica, formed the most im- 
portant, if not the sole, objects on which they ex- 
ercised their industry ; and the greatest part of 
the burthen of these, fell upon that weaker sex, 
whose lot in these regions appears to have been 
more onerous than usually falls to their share, even 
amongst savage tribes. 

The preparation of chica, from maize, is con- 
ducted in the following manner : the maize, after 
being soaked in water till it germinates, is dried in 
the sun, then parched a little, and at last ground; 
the flour, after it has been well kneaded, is put 
into a large vessel with water, and left for two or 
three days to ferment. In some parts, instead of 
being ground, it is given to the women to chew, 
and the impregnation of it with the saliva, is sup- 
posed to add greatly to its virtue. It is sometimes 
made of other materials, besides maize, and the 
berry of a tree called Ovinian^ nearly resembling a 
juniper-berry, both in size and in flavour, is infused 
in it, which adds considerably to its strength, and 
to its estimation. 

This intoxicating beverage, the foundation of 
all their festivities, was particularly employed on 
every occasion of religious ceremony. Of these, and 
of their opinions of the deity, and of good and 
evil, a summary account will not be deemed un- 
worthy of attention. 

There are two fundamental doctrines, on which 
the whole structure of religion, as far as it can be 
discovered by the light of nature, is erected. The 

E 



50 Religious institutions 

being of a God, and the immortality of the soul. 
Men, in their savage state, pass their days, too 
often, like the animals around them, without the 
knowledge of, or veneration for, any superior 
power. Some of the ruder tribes of Indians in 
South America have not, even in their lans-ua^e 
any name for the deity, nor have the most accu- 
rate observers been able to discover any practice 
or institution, by which they appeared to recog- 
nize his authority, or to be solicitous to obtain 
his favour. Yet, amongst these tribes, apprehen- 
sions are discerned of invisible and powerful 
beings, to the influence of whom the extraordinary 
occurrences of nature are ascribed ; and the thun- 
derstorm, the hurricane, and the earthquake are con- 
sidered as effects of their interference. In unenlisjht-r 
ened nations, therefore, we find that the first rites 
that bear any resemblance to acts of religion, are 
intended to avert the evils which men either suffer 
or dread. Even amongst those tribes w^hose reli- 
gious system was more enlarged, superstition ap- 
pears to be the offspring of fear, and all its efforts 
were employed to avert calamities. Hence the in- 
numerable practices of the wizards or priests of 
the Paraguay Indians, which they supposed would 
either relieve their wants, or prevent the occur- 
rence of any deprecated event. It would be irre- 
levant to enter into any detail as to the systems of 
religion more approaching to rationality that were 
found to exist in Peru, and in Bagota, in which 
one universal cause was the fundamental princi- 



of the aboriginal Indians* & 1 

pie, and in which the beneficent interposition of 
Heaven was solicited, as well as the malignant in- 
fluence of an evil spirit propitiated. The present 
examination is directed to those superstitions that 
prevailed in the other parts of South America, and 
in which the human mind had not attained a far- 
ther degree of advancement, than to conceive the 
existence of an evil principle, and to deprecate its 
wrath or malignity. 

With regard to the immortality of the soul, it is a 
tenet so interwoven with human nature, so conge- 
nial to its consciousness, that it may be traced from 
-one extremity of the globe to the other ; in some 
regions more faint and obscure^ in others more per- 
fectly developed, but no where unknown. All 
the savage tribes of South America entertained 
hopes of a future and a more happy state. But, 
supposing that the souls of men, would, in a future 
existence, still continue to feel the same desires, 
and be engaged in the same occupations, as in the 
present world ; the Americans allotted the high- 
est place, in their country of spirits, to the skilful 
hunter, or to the adventurous and successful war- 
rior. These notions were so prevalent, that they 
gave rise to an universal custom, which is at once, 
the strongest evidence of a belief in a future state, 
and thebest illustration of what was expected there. 
That their friends might not enter upon the world 
whither they had departed, defenceless and un- 
provided, they buried with their bodies their wea- 
pons of war, or of the chace, their domestic utensils 5 

e 2 



Religious institutions, 

together with maize, manioc, venison, and whatever 
was reckoned as necessaries in their simple mode 
of life. In some provinces, upon the decease of a 
cacique, a number of his wives, of his favourites, 
and of his slaves, were put to death, and interred 
together with him, that he might appear with the 
same dignity, as he enjoyed on earth, in the world 
of spirits, and be waited upon by the same at- 
tendants. Many voluntary victims offered them- 
selves, and courted the privilege of accompanying 
their departed master, as an high distinction. It 
, was even found difficult, on some occasions, to set 
bounds to this enthusiasm, and to reduce the train 
of a favourite leader to such a number as the tribe 
could afford to spare. 

Connected with devotion, appears likewise 
amongst all untutored nations, a fond desire of 
prying into futurity; and the wizards of the In- 
dians were priests, soothsayers, and physicians. 
In the last quality, superstition and the force of 
imagination, mingled with some portion of crafty 
supplied their want of science; and incantation, 
and mummeries of divers kinds, were the means 
they employed to expel the imaginary causes of 
malignity. Recourse was had to them on all oc- 
casions when a desire was felt of acquiring an 
insight into futurity ; and long before such know- 
ledge of a deity had been acquired, as leads to 
adoration, man may be observed stretching out a 
presumptuous hand to rend the veil with which 
providence kindly conceals its purposes from hu- 



and detached customs of the Indians. 5$ 

man knowledge. It has, with the greatest pro- 
priety, been remarked, that to discern and to wor- 
ship a superintending power, is an evidence of the 
e-nlargement and maturity of the human under- 
standing ; a vain desire of prying into futurity, is 
an error of its infancy, and a proof of its weak- 
ness. 

In addition to the above general reflections, the 
following have appeared as the most remarkable 
of the Indian rites, that have been observed upon 
the first entry of the Europeans into the countries 
bordering on the river La Plata. 

Upon the death of a cacique, or on any general 
mourning, which consists in abstaining from fish or 
any thing else that they may consider as delica- 
cies, it is customary for the whole community to 
change their names. 

Amongst the Xarayes, at the capture, by Don 
Alvarez, of their principal town, which consisted 
of eight thousand huts, a tower of timber, situated 
in the centre of the place, was found to be the re- 
sidence and the temple of a monstrous serpent, 
which was fed with human flesh. It is described 
as equal in bulk to an ox, twenty-seven feet 
in length, and covered with round scales of a 
great thickness. The inhabitants adored this rep- 
tile, and alleged that it delivered oracles. The 
Spaniards killed it with fire-arms. 

Amongst the Guaranis^ the women, at the death 
cf their husbands, used to throw themselves from 
some eminence, high enough to cripple them for 

E 3 



Detached customs. 



the remainder of their lives. They believed that 
the soul, on its leaving the body, never wandered 
at any great distance from it, but kept it company 
in the grave, where they, accordingly, left a va« 
cancy for it to reside in. 

To have a right to wear his hair among the 
Abipones, a man must have killed an enemy. The 
beard was to them so hideous, that when the 
least hair appeared, they directly pulled it out by 
the roots.* 

The Mo Inches and Buelches admitted both sexes 
to the honour of the pontificate or wizardship. 
The men were not allowed to marry, but the wo- 
men were. They were generally chosen to this 
office when children, as a preference was always 
shewn to those, who, at that early time of life, dis- 
covered an effeminate disposition. Those who 
were afflicted with epilepsy, were immediately se- 
lected for this employment, as chosen by the de- 
mons themselves, in whose confidence they were 
supposed to be. When they died, their souls were 
considered as adding to the number of demons, 
and such as had ever offended any one of these 
sorcerers, superstitiousiy dreaded their influence 
on his future prosperity, as soon as they were 
dead, which they then endeavoured to obviate by 
a more ready obedience, and more liberal offerings, 

* This appears as a confirmation of what has before been said, 
as to the supposed natural want of beards amongst the Americans 
in general. 



Population of the Indians. 55 

to the other ministers of the same nature, who re- 
mained to perform the same offices. 

At the decease of their chieftains, the Moluches, 
the Taluhets, and Diuihets ; one of the most dis- 
tinguished women of the tribe was chosen to 
make a skeleton of his body, dissecting the flesh 
as clean from the bones as possible, burning the 
flesh and entrails, and burying the bones for a 
time ; after which they were disinterred, and re- 
moved to the proper burial place of their ancestors, 
on the sea-coast. But as this practice still conti- 
nues with a considerable degree of solemnity and 
ceremony amongst the Indian tribes, south of 
Buenos Ayres, another opportunity will occur to 
enlarge upon it. 

It is difficult to trace any data by which to 
judge of the population of the inhabitants of these 
countries, at the time of their first discovery. 
From their savage state and wandering habits, it 
could not be numerous. The wars of extermina- 
tion which the Spaniards carried on against those 
who refused to submit to their yoke ; their cruelty 
and oppression of those whom they subjugated ; 
the fatal introduction of the smallpox ; and other 
minor causes, have since united to reduce the ge- 
neral numbers of all, and wholly to extinguish 
some, tribes. No judgment can, therefore, be 
formed, in their present dispersed and impotent 
state, from the time, when, we are told by the 
Spaniards, some caciques brought bodies of six 
and eight thousand men into the field, and when 

E 4 



56 Population of the Indians. 

the Chilians of the mountains encountered Baldi- 
via with an army of thirteen thousand. On these 
occasions, no doubt, the entire male population ca- 
pable of bearing arms were ranged under the ban- 
ners of their chiefs, and these may be taken as one- 
fourth of the whole. Calculating, therefore, the 
extent of country whence those armies were col- 
lected, and comparing it with the whole of the 
regions of Paraguay, the entire population, at the 
time, may be estimated at about one million, or 
twelve hundred thousand, souls. 







CHAP. IV. 

(General idea of the country — Rivers — Lakes ^ 
Mountains — Plains — Forests — Climate — Soil 

r J , HE viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres stretches 
through twenty-six degrees of south latitude. 
Upon the whole, it may be denominated a level 
country, the two great chains of mountains called 
Cordilleras, the one on the side of Brazil, and the 
other on that of Peru, forming its eastern and 
western boundaries. Towards the north, a con- 
siderable tract of mountainous country, branching 
from both those ranges, and the elevated plains be- 
yond the Gran Chaco, give rise to the multiplicity 
of streams that flow in every direction to join the 
great bodies of water which pour through the coun- 
try from regions yet imperfectly known ; whilst, 
descending by gradual slopes, the western and 
southern parts run into extensive, and, in some 
places, marshy plains, to the foot of the Cordillera 
of Chili. It may be considered as a vast amphi^ 
theatre, shut in laterally by the Brazilian and 
Peruvian mountains; by the heights of land,whence, 
on one side, the waters are disembogued through 
the mouths of the Maragnon and the Oronoco, 
and, on the other, by the widely-expanded Plata, 
to the north ; and by a branch of the Cordillera 



5$ 



Rivers. 



of Chili that runs nearly across to the Atlantic, 
under the name of Casuhati, to the south; leaving, 
towards the south-east, the immense opening of 
the Rio de la Plata, as a wide and magnificent 
portal proportioned to the grandeur, to the im- 
portance, and to the extent of the regions to which 
it gives access.* 

The most prominent objects of regard in these 
regions are the immense rivers which descend 
through them. They are so numerous, that many, 
which would in Europe be looked upon as large 
rivers, flow in unregarded and nameless channels, 
considered but as tributaries of the main streams, 
and scarcely worthy of a place in the maps. 

The Rio de la Plata, or River of Silver, was 
originally called the River of De Solis, from its 
first discoverer; but Sebastian Cabot, who first 
penetrated beyond the junctions of the Parana 
and the Paraguay, having defeated a body of In- 
dians on the banks of the latter, obtained a con- 
siderable booty in gold and silver, whence he be- 

* As, on account of its difficult and dangerous navigation, and 
the disasters that befell its early visitors, this opening acquired the 
appellation of the Hell of Navigators, Milton's description of the 
gates of Hell seems, by a not unnatural association of ideas, ap* 
plicable to this grand entrance : — 

The gates wide open stood, 

That -with extended wings a bannered host, 
Under spread ensigns marching, might pass through. 
With horse, and chariots, ranked in loose array; 
So wide they stood. 



Rio de la Plata. 



stowed upon the river' the pompous appellation 
which has since prevailed, and which has led 
many to believe that the precious metals are to 
be met with in abundance on its banks. It is, 
however, stated, that the treasure found in the 
possession of those Indians, was that which they 
had, in their turn, taken from Alexis cle Garcia, 
a Portuguese, who, some years before, had 
penetrated from Brazil to the frontiers of Peru, 
and was killed, on his return with the plunder he 
had collected. The name, though thus originating 
in mistake, was too flattering to the ambitious 
cupidity with which the new world was regarded 
by the adventurers of Europe, to be easily super- 
seded. It has been perpetuated, whilst the name 
of the first discoverer has been relegated to a few 
hills yet called the Sierra de Solis, on the northern 
shore of its entrance. The distinctive appellation 
of Rio de la Plata, however, though intended by 
Cabot for the whole of the majestic stream he had 
in part ascended, is now only applied to the chan- 
nel, through which the great body of water formed 
by the confluence of the Parana, the Paraguay, and, 
the Uraguay, flows into the ocean, forming an 
rcstuary of fresh water, without parallel in the rest 
of the globe for width and magnificence. 

It is one hundred and fifty miles broad at its 
mouth, from Cape St. Maria on one side, to Cape 
St. Anthony on the other. But some geographers 
have considered the point of Montevideo on 0110 
side, and the punta de Piedras, or stony point, on 



60 



Rivers, 



the other, as its proper limits. Between those 
promontories it is only eighty miles broad. As, 
however, the water neither loses its freshness, nor 
feels the influence of the tide in any considerable 
degree, between the first-mentioned extremities, 
they are generally, and with propriety, considered 
as forming its northern and southern points of dis- 
crimination. At Buenos Ayres, which lies about 
two hundred miles from the mouth, it is about 
thirty miles broad ; and the shores being little 
elevated, the eye can seldom reach from one side 
to the other. This wide and noble expanse is, 
notwithstanding its extent, deformed by rocks 
and sandbanks, and rendered of dangerous navi^ 
gation not only by its shoals and shallows, but 
likewise by the impetuous torrents of wind which 
sweep, at intervals, over the vast plains of the 
Pampas, to the south-west of Buenos Ayres, 
whence they are called Pamperos, and rush down 
this wide opening with unequalled fury. It has 
been observed, however, that an incipient thunder^ 
storm generally precedes the ravages of the Pam- 
peros, and gives sufficient notice to mariners to 
prepare for the coming tempest. The only port 
which is adapted for the complete safety of ships 
of great or even considerable burthen, is that of 
Montevideo; though those of Maldonado, Barra- 
gon, Buenos Ayres, and Colonia, afford different 
degrees of anchorage and security. They will pass 
in review on a future occasion. 

It is said, that, when this river was first dis* 



RIq de la Plata. 



61 



covered, it was navigable as high as the city of 
Assumption, for large ships; but that the accu- 
mulations of sand which have since taken place 
now prevents merchant vessels from going higher 
than Buenos Ay res. There are two great banks 
w r hich are the terror of mariners, and considerably 
detract from the utility of this noble river. That 
called the English bank is the most advanced to- 
wards the ocean, and is of considerable extent. 
Occasionally, and when the floods come down the 
rivers, it is covered for several fathoms ; but has, 
in general, only a few feet water on it. The same 
may be said of the Ortiz bank, which lies higher 
up, and more across the river, being of greater 
length, but less breadth, than the former. Besides 
these a reef of rocks and shoals stretches out from 
Punta de Piedras, and renders the entrance along 
the southern shores of the river one of intricacy 
and danger. The northern channel is narrower 
and deeper, the southern wider and more shallow. 
Ships generally make Cape St. Maria, and their 
best way is to range along the northern shore, till 
they are clear of the bank of Ortiz, between which 
and the Fisher's bank, off Colonia or St. Sacrament, 
there is a good passage over to the road of Buenos 
Ayres. Notwithstanding the shoals, there are 
very few islands in the lower part of the river. — 
The Isle de Lobos, or of Wolves (so called from 
the seals and other amphibious animals that fre- 
quent it), lies off the Punta de Este, and is sur- 
rounded by dangerous rocks. The Isle de Flores, 



Rivers. Rio de ta Plata. 



or of Flowers, is situated between the English bank 
and the port of Montevideo, and affords tolerable 
anchorage between it and the shore. No other 
islands occur, except those of San Gabriel, which 
protect the roadstead of St. Sacrament, until near 
the confluence of the Uraguay and the Parana; 
where, on one side, lies the island of Marti nXjarcia* 
and on the other, that of Palmas. None of these 
islands are, however, of any consequence, except- 
ing as adding to the difficulty of the navigation* 
It may not, however, be improper to remark, that 
the difficulties of entering this river have probably 
been exaggerated, either by the timidity, or by 
the policy, of the Spaniards. The skill and intre- 
pidity of British seamen will overcome all that 
are not insurmountable; and when sufficiently 
surveyed or familiarly known, these magnified 
obstacles will be divested of much of their present 
formidable appearance. The soundings decrease 
pretty regularly from fifteen to four and three 
fathoms water ; and the bottom varies from sand, at 
the mouth, to rocky clay, and, higher up, thick 
mud, the sediment brought down by the turbid 
and turbulent waves of the various great rivers 
that here unite their streams.* 

* The geographical positions of the following places in Rio de 
1& Plata have been laid down by an accurate navigator as under:—* 




S. Latitude. 



W . longitude. 
54° 43' 30" 



Pun- a de F.ste, J 
Island of Lobos. . 35° 




Rivers. Paraguay. G'3 

About eighteen miles above Buenos Ayres, after 
having received the tribute of a comparatively- 
trifling river, the ,Rio de las Conchas, or River of 
Shells, the Plata loses its name in those of the Ura- 
guay and the Parana. It will be proper, now, there- 
fore, to remount to the sources of these rivers, and 
of the Paraguay, in order to describe them with 
more geographical propriety. 

The Paraguay, though not retaining that ap- 
pellation till its junction with the Plata, is, from 
its length of course, the first to be considered. 

Its name, according to some, is derived from z 
word in the language of the country signifying 
variety of colours, perhaps from the beautiful 
plumage of the birds, and variety of flowers along 
its banks ; but Charlevoix says it is so named from 
a word in the language of the nations near the 
lake Xarayes, signifying the crowned river, as if 
that lake formed a crown about its head. Its 
sources, however, are very imperfectly ascertained ; 
and though the lake Xarayes is said by some to be 
its northern boundary, other accounts make it rise 
much nearer towards the equator, and assert that 
that lake is no other than an accumulation of its 
waters during the floods, on a level extent of 

S. latitude. W. longitude, 

English bank / n°rth pt. ™° 10' 0" eastpt. 55- 40' 45" 

I south pt. 35° 13' 30" west pt. 55° 46' 15" 

Montevideo, town 34° 55'- 0" 56° 4' 0' 1 

Buenos Ayres, anchorage 34° 37' 0'' 58° 13' 0' ? 

Cape St. Anthony. ..... 36 Q %%' Q" 32' 



RiverS. 



country through which it passes, which assumes./ 
in the rainy seasons, the appearance and character 
of an inland sea, whilst, in the summer, the river 
is confined within comparatively narrow limits. 

The existence of lakeXarayes, as a lake, can not* 
however, be wholly denied, unfess we refuse all 
belief to the reports of the expeditions undertaken 
during the government of Don Alvarez. In the 
first of these, in 1542, the lake was coasted by 
De Irala, who, on its western shore, discovered & 
place which he called Puerto de los Reyes, and 
.which afterwards served as a station or establish- 
ment for all the Spaniards who penetrated that 
way. Alvarez himself, and Ribera, one of his 
lieutenants, is stated to have passed over the lake ; 
and an island is described by Father del Tocho, 
as situated opposite to Puerto de los Reyes, called 
the island of Orejones, from a Peruvian nation, 
who ? it is said, took refuge here on the conquest 
of their country. It is stated to be thirty miles 
in length and fifteen in breadth. Its salubrious air, 
the spontaneous fertility of its soil, and the beauty 
of its situation, induced the Spaniards to give rt 
the appellation of the Island of Paradise. Con- 
siderably elevated above the low and inundated 
shores of the lake, it enjoys, though situated be- 
tween the fifteenth and sixteenth degrees of south 
latitude, the most temperate weather during the 
whole year; refreshed by regular breezes, and 
watered by many rivulets, its fields yield, without 
effort or aid, the choicest fruits and rarest pro- 



Paraguay, 65 

tluctions of America; and game and fish of all 
kinds present themselves to complete the bounty 
of nature. This picture may be overcharged, and 
the dimensions of the lake may have been extended 
to the verge of its annual overflowings ; but, as no 
late travellers have penetrated so far, and all its 
early visitors represent it as a lake of considerable 
magnitude, some modern geographers have ex- 
punged this lake from their maps, on grounds that 
appear to be too slight. 

In these latitudes, it is said, that the rivers over- 
flow to such a degree, when the sun has reached 
the tropic, that more than three hundred miles of 
the country, on each side, are laid underwater; 
and the canoes of the natives are navigated over 
the tops of the highest trees. These inundations 
last four months ; the waters begin to fall towards 
the end of March, and leave behind them, like the 
waters of most tropical rivers, a fructifying sedi- 
ment, that, in some respects, compensates for the 
insalubrity which they occasion, both by their 
exhalations, and by the purification of the fish 
which are abandoned in large quantities, by the 
retiring of the waters. 

From these enormous accumulations of water, 
it is natural to conclude, that the rivers which 
feed them, must, even when not swelled by pe- 
riodical rains, or melted snows, proceed from di- 
stant sources ; and the accounts of the longest 
course of the Paraguay may hence be considered 
as confirmed. It is not likely, however, that it 

F 



66 



Rivers. 



has any water-communication, either with the 
Maragnon or the Oronoco, as has been asserted by 
some of the missionaries, as the mountainous di* 
strict that crosses South America from the northern 
borders of Brazil, to the Cordilleras of Peru, inter- 
poses between them. The Portuguese from St. 
Paul and Cuyaba in Brazil, travel across these re- 
gions, by means of the rivers and lakes, collecting 
gold and slaves amongst the Indian nations, and 
are stated be working mines not far from the east- 
ern confines of Peru*; but the geography of this 

" :f The relation given to the Jesuits of San Raphael, by Don An- 
tonio Pineyiio, the chief of a Portuguese expedition, travelling across 
the continent in 1/40, of the route they pursued from Brazil to 
Peru, will be found interesting. " From St. Paul of Piriatinqua 
they travelled by land to embark on the Nembis or Anembi, by 
following the little rivers that fall into it. By some rivulets com- 
municating between the Anembi and the Parana, they entered the 
latter, and then ascended the Yguairi, which falls into the Para- 
guay, in conjunction with another river they called Boterey. After 
this the}'- remounted the Paraguay, keeping in close to the western 
'shore of it, and leaving to their right, the ruins of the city of Xeres. 
Then, leaving to their left, &§ lake Maniore, and a little higher, 
Rio Taquari, they soon reached the town of Jesus de Cuyaba, 
which lies but two days journey to the north-east of lake Xarayes. 
In two days journey more to the west, they got to a great moun- 
tain, called Mono de San Geronymc, where gold mines were 
worked. After crossing the mountain they embarked on lake 
Xarayes; and, after coasting it for some time, entered a great ri- 
ver, which flows into it from the west. By this river they pro- 
ceeded to other mines, called Monte Grosso, where there is * 
town, consisting of three hundred families. Don Antonio Pineyro 
said, that he was one of the first that had ascended this river ; that 
he met. on the banks of it, a small nation of Indians, called Paris* 



Paraguay. Iguatu. Cuyaba. 67 

tract is so confused, or little known, that the 
vague accounts we have of their itineraries, can 
neither be reconciled to each other, nor to the 
maps that enjoy the greatest reputation for accu- 
racy. 

It is probable, therefore, that the real sources 
of the Paraguay, will be found about the latitude 
of ten decrees south. After passing through the 
lake Xarayes, it receives on the right, the Iguatu, 
an Indian word, signifying good water, which is 
formed by the confluence of two other rivers, one 
issuing from the mountains of Peru, and the other 
from those to the north. At the junction of the 
Iguatu with the Paraguay, a number of channels 
and subdivisions of the main stream, give it the 
appearance and the intricacy of a labyrinth. 

On the left, the Cuyaba is received from the 
Brazilian ridge. The gold-mines of Cuyaba, 
which lie on the western side of the mountains, 
have been claimed by Spain, but are possessed and 
worked, though it is believed with little advan- 
tage, by the Portuguese. 

Lower down, the river is better known, and 
assumes a more determinate form. It receives a 
number of subordinate streams as it traverses the 

sus, very poor and wretched, and of a very diminutive stature. 
* These are the Indians,' said he, ' who work in the mines with 
the negroes and other slaves sent thither from Brazil, with mission- 
% aries to instruct the Parissus and the Mainburez, their neighbours, 
who are a very numerous nation. Hence, probably, the flat coun* 
try axouncj lake Xarayes is, by some, called Cajnpos Paresis.' * 

W 2 



6$ 



It it ers. 



champaign country of the Gran Chaco, amongst 
which is the Guyaru, the waters of which are 
very salt ; and in latitude 24° W : it passes the 
city of Assumption, the capital of the province of 
Paraguay. 

The Pilcomayo here attracts the attention. 
It falls into the Paraguay on the left, by two 
branches, on the point of land formed by the most 
northern of which, the city of Assumption was 
founded by Gonzalez de Mendoza, in 1538. The 
other branch does not join the Paraguay till within 
a short distance of the confluence of the Yermejo. 
It is the largest river of the Gran Chaco, and is 
one of the most important of the branches of the 
Paraguay, forming a water- communication of 
nearly nine hundred miles, with the province of 
Los Charcos, and the mines of Potosi. It rises in 
the western Cordillera, and receiving various 
mountain-torrents passes near Potosi, whence the 
little river Tctrapaya runs into it, and, it is said, 
carries with it from the mines a considerable quan- 
tity of silver, which means have not been found 
of saving, and which has been calculated to amount 
to the value of five hundred thousand dollars an- 
nually. It is added that so large a proportion of 
quicksilver is also washed into the Pilcomayo by 
the same channel, that no fish can live in it. 
From these, or other causes, however, no fish are 
found in the river, till it leaves the mountainous 
territory, and reaches Chaco ; and here it begins 
also to abound in alligators, which are said to be 



Pilcomayo. 69 

more numerous and more voracious in this, than 
in the other streams of the country. 

Garcilasso de Vega relates, that the name of 
Pilcomayo signifies in the Quitcoane language, 
the River of Sparrows, and that that of Araguay, 
by which its northern branch is sometimes di- 
stinguished, denotes, in the language of the Gua- 
ranis, the River of Understanding, because it re- 
quires much precaution in those who navigate it, 
not to lose the main stream, and get entangled in 
the lakes that communicate with it towards the 
end of its course. This northern branch, from 
passing over beds of salt, acquires a brackish taste, 
and much salt-petre is found on its banks. 

The navigation of the Pilcomayo, however, 
though at times practicable, with the exception 
of some rapids that are easily overcome, to its 
source; is also subject to occasional interruptions, 
and in dry seasons, it is, in some places, too 
shallow for the smallest craft. In 1740, a failure 
of its waters is recorded, even at its source, by 
which the working of the mines of Potosi was 
suspended, and the country suffered severely. 1 

The island formed by the two branches of the 
Pilcomayo is low and marshy; so much so, that in 
the rainy season, the two branches are confounded, 
for the waters swell so much as to overflow the 
whole island and even to communicate with the" 
Rio Vermejo. In the tract of land adjoining the 
river, and subject to inundations, there are also 

F 3 



70 Rivers — Vermejo. 

several permanent lakes, but of inconsiderable ex- 
tent, nameless and unimportant. 

The Vermejo, or Red River,' is the next, on the 
same side. It rises in Tarija, a mountainous di- 
strict to the south of Potosi, and branches of it run 
from the towns of Jujui and Salta. It is called 
Rio Grande, where it joins the Paraguay. Its cur- 
rent is very gentle, and the ascent by the aid of re- 
gular southern breezes, that blow every morning, 
is as easy as its descent. It abounds in fish, and 
the waters are deemed very salutary . Pearls were 
found in a lake formed by this river, but the infe- 
riority of their quality, or the failure of the fishery, 
soon occasioned its abandonment. 

There are several other rivers that traverse the 
Chaco from the Cordilleras, insignificant rivulets 
at one time, impetuous torrents at another. There 
is one called the Rio Verde, from the colour of its 
waters, for which no cause is assigned, whilst 
they are not thereby rendered either unwholesome 
or unpalatable. It falls into the Paraguay consi- 
derably above Assumption. Some of these rivers 
lose themselves in the earth. By the melting of 
the snow on the Cordilleras and the periodical 
rains, both occurring in the same season, they over- 
flow to such a degree, that part of Chaco resem- 
bles an island sea ; and these inundations are so 
considerable, and so sudden, especially near the 
mouths of the rivers that fall into the Paraguay, 
that the inhabitants are obliged to have recourse 



Parana, 7 1 

to their canoes, or to the tops of trees to provide 
for their safety. No sooner, however, are the wa- 
ters retired, than the plains they covered assume 
an aspect of verdure and fertility that compensates 
for their previous apparent desolation. Were this 
country inhabited by people calculated by indus- 
try or art, to make the most of the advantages 
Providence has bestowed on it, and to correct the 
disadvantages under which it labours, it might be- 
come the Egypt of the new world. 

The great river Parana, which robs the Para- 
guay of its name, now appears on the right, de- 
scending from the mountains of Brazil, by a long, 
a tortuous, and a diversified course. Parana 
signifies sea, or great water, a name given to this 
river by the Indians, on account of its enormous 
size. It rises far within the limits of the Portu- 
guese territories. Its main stream, under the 
name of Rio Grande, an appellation that is bestowed 
upon numerous rivers in South America of 
various dimensions, flows from the mountainous 
country of Minaes Geraes, one of the richest 
of the interior provinces of Brazil, but with 
the topography of which we are very little ac- 
quainted. It is swelled to a considerable bulk, by 
the accession of several other- rivers, before it enters 
the Spanish dominions. The boundary-line, how- 
ever, between Paraguay and Brazil, is not ex- 
actly ascertained in this part. The missions of 
the Jesuits extend, or did extend, beyond w r here 
the Paranapanc flows into the Parana. This 'river, 

F 4 



72 



Rivers. 



the name of which signifies the great river of Mis- 
fortune, issues also from the Brazilian mountains, 
the range of which, in this part, approaches very- 
near to the Atlantic ; and it is reinforced by the 
w r aters of several others, the most considerable of 
which are the Pirape and the Tabaxiva. Its banks 
are covered with immense forests, and amongst 
them, in particular, cedars abound of a stupendous 
height and enormous thickness. 

To return to the Parana; it now flows, in a 
south-west course, through the principal establish- 
ments of the Jesuits, a country of delightful aspect, 
and incomparable fertility. The Parana seldom 
overflows its banks ; it runs in a broad but deep 
channel, and in latitude twenty-four passes over 
a ledge of rocks that has been denominated a ca- 
taract, but is little more than a rapid. Indeed, 
loaded boats are hauled up it by means of ropes, 
so that it does not materially obstruct the navi- 
gation of the river, which is not difficult as far as 
it has been settled or explored. This rapid, which 
is called the fall of Itu, is formed by a chain of 
rocks that rise in separate masses, and leave chan- 
nels like embrasures for the gushing stream.* The 

* The manner of ascending this rapid is described as follows : — 
Three Indians, at the bottom of the fall, pushed onwards a large 
boat laden with a variety of articles, which were tightly secured ; 
two stood in the water, above the rocks, pulling two ropes that 
were fastened to the prow of the boat ; a little distance beyond 
were four more; and by their joint endeavours they dragged the 
boat up the fall. When she was safely lodged in the upper stream 



Parana, 



73 



Parana is here very wide, and, when swelled by 
rains, very rapid ; and the boats are, at times, 
hindered from passing till the violence of the cur- 
rent has abated. Near this fall medicinal springs 
are found, which have acquired some reputation 
in the country. Some way below the fall, the 
Cibogi, a rapid and rocky river, falls into the Pa- 
rana ; and in latitude 26° 30' it receives the Iguazu, 
a broad but short stream, running from the moun- 
tains at the back of St. Catherine. A petrifying 
quality is ascribed to the waters of the Parana. 

Swelled by its various tributary streams, the 
Parana, answering here to its Indian appellation, 
flows majestically on, in a more westerly direction, 
to join the Paraguay, No other streams of any 
note run into it till then, nor does it seem to want 
any further aid to be able to wrest the dominion 
of the plains from its mighty rival. Broader and 
deeper than the Paraguay, the name of the latter 
is lost ; but its course remains unaltered ; and, as 
if in revenge for the usurpation of its right, the 
united floods of the two rivers are forced, from 
Corrientes, a town situated at their junction, to 
follow the natural direction of the Paraguay from 
south to north. 

At St. Lucia, a settlement on the right bank of 
the river, a channel called Rio Corrientes is found 

they rested a while ; and then, hoisting their sail, proceeded on the'r 
way. The fall, at the place where this manoeuvre was performed, 
appeared to be about twelve feet high ; but the centre part, which 
assumes a semicircular form, is considerably higher. 



74 



Rivers — Salado. Dolce. 



communicating with the lake Iberi, which will be 
described hereafter. 

Paying no particular attention to the channels 
and lesser rivers that communicate on both sides 
with the grand stream, as it passes through the 
flat country, the great river Salado, on the left, 
is the next object of consideration. This river 
derives its name from the salt with which its waters 
are impregnated, although this quality is general 
to the rivers that pass through Tucuman, from the 
Cordilleras of Ataeama and Copiapo. 

The Salado is called, in the early part of its 
course, the Rio del Pasage ; and is so rapid, as 
to render its navigation very dangerous. On ar- 
riving at the place where the town of Estero for- 
merly stood, it changes its name into that of Rio 
de Valbuena; and from its source to this place, 
which is about one hundred and twenty miles, its 
waters are tinged of a blood colour, which disap- 
pears, by degrees, as it receives those of other 
rivers. This colour is attributed to the soil of the 
valley of Calchaqui, through which it flows. It 
is not called the Salado till it reaches the latitude 
of San Jago del Estero. Its general direction is 
south-east; but before it join the Parana, it runs 
a more southerly course for some distance. It is 
at Santa Fe, in latitude 31° 40' S., that it mixes 
with the main river. 

The Rio Dolce, or Sweet River, the next prin- 
cipal river of Tucuman, does not, however, com- 
municate with the Parana, but rising in the Cor- 



Tercero. 



7S 



dilleras, and watering the towns of San Miguel de 
Tucuman, and San Jago del Estero, loses itself in 
the salt-lakes tathe north-east of Cordova. There 
are several others, that steal into the bosom of the 
earth, and Cordova is situated on one of that de- 
scription, called Rio Primero. Almost all of thenl 
change their names at every town they pass through ; 
few of them are navigable, and none of them run 
any length. The forests of Tucuman abound in 
springs, small lakes, and marshes; and though it 
never rains for six months in the year, the earth, 
kept moist by the inundations naturally produced 
by the almost constant rains during the other six 
months, yields abundant crops of grain. 

Rio Tercero enters the Parana, between fifty 
and sixty miles below Santa Fe, at the Rincon or 
corner of Gaboto, under the original Indian ap- 
pellation of Zar car anna. It rises in the mountains 
of Achala, a branch of the Cordillera, that extends 
into Tucuman, is increased by the waters of seve- 
ral smaller rivers, before it passes the heights of 
Cordova, where it has a considerable fall ; but 
coming to the plains, part of which are very 
sandy ; it disappears, during the dry season, 
but breaks out again at some distance. In times 
of rain it encreases very much, and brings down 
with its rapid current great quantities of wood. Its 
course is winding, and its banks, for more than 
sixty miles after it leaves the mountains, are full 
of high willow- trees. The country through which 
it flows is fine corn and pasture-land. Towards 



7 6 Rivers — U raguay. 

Cruzalta it becomes brackish, but not so much so 
as to prevent its being potable. It here, as before 
said, assumes the name of Zarcaranna, and termi- 
nates in the Parana by a S.S.E. course. 

The Parana, from Santa Fe downwards, is 
sprinkled with numerous islands, which in most 
places hide its immense breadth from observation. 
Many of these islands are large, and all are covered 
with trees, but none are inhabited except by wild 
beasts and game. These islands are overflowed 
during the annual inundations, of which there are 
two, a greater and a less. The latter lasts for about 
a month in June and July, and is called the in- 
crease of the Pecquereys or sparlings ; the other 
lasts during the months of December, January, 
and sometimes February. This rises from eighteen 
to twenty feet above the level of the islands ; and 
in these seasons the wild animals with which they 
abound swim over to the main land, On some 
occasions of extraordinary floods, the inhabitants 
of Santa Fe have had thoughts of forsaking their 
city, which is often wholly surrounded by the 
waters. When this vast flood, however, comes 
down into the Plata, it does but just cover the low 
lands upon its banks. The Parana now takes a 
more decisive bend to the south-east ; and soon 
joining the great river Uraguay, they together ex- 
pand into the sea-like Plata. 

The Uraguay, though not equal, either to the 
Paraguay or the Parana, for length of course, sur- 
passes both in the rapid accession of waters it 



Uraguay. 77 

receives, by which, near its conflueuce with the 
latter, it is its equal, if not its superior, in breadth. 
An island, however, at its entrance intercepts the 
view of its size, and compresses its waters so much 
that the main channel is dangerous to be navigated 
from its rapidity, and vessels are obliged to pass 
through the narrow and more winding passage on 
the other side of the island. The Uraguay rises 
not far from the sources of the Iguazu, and runs 
for a time in a direction almost parallel with the 
mountains of Brazil ; whilst, on the other side, it 
is compressed by another range that separates it 
from the bed of the Parana. The quick accumu- 
lation of the waters from the mountain-torrents 
render it extremely rapid ; and when it leaves the 
hilly country, it attains so great a breadth, six 
hundred and ninety miles above its discharge into 
the Plata, that a ten- oared boat requires half an 
hour to cross it, though it runs there at a very 
slow rate. The mountains on the "left now termi- 
nate, and deviating from those on the right, the 
Uraguay receives several tributary streams on that 
side ; the most remarkable of which are the Tebi- 
quari, which forms in this place the boundary be- 
tween the provinces of Paraguay and Rio de la 
Plata, and the Rio Negro ,a rather considerable river, 
that flows nearly^ from east to west, from the 
mountains to the north of Maldonado, and joins 
the Uraguay near its mouth. On the left, the 
Uraguay communicates by the river Mirinay or 
Iberi, with the lake that bears the latter name, 



78 



Rivers — Borombon. 



Upon the whole, the Uraguay is a rocky and 
turbulent stream, of difficult navigation, except 
by the balzas, a species of craft peculiar to South 
America. It abounds in fish, and the country 
through which it passes is romantic, beautiful, 
and fertile. 

Below the junction of these mighty waters, the 
Plata receives none but insignificant rivulets, un- 
less we consider as accessary streams the rivers 
Borombon and Saladillo, which disembogue them- 
selves between Punta de Piedras and Cape St. An- 
thony, and may therefore be looked upon as having 
their own outlets to the sea. 

The Boromboh is a large river, or rather lake, 
proceeding from the overflowing of the lakes that 
fie in the plains of Matanza, south of Buenos Ayres, 
when they are swelled by great rains. The lakes 
that contribute to the Borombon are those of Re- 
duction, Sauce, Yitel, and Chascamuz. It is some- 
times near a mile in breadth, having neither banks 
nor falls, but a very broad flat bottom. When at 
its greatest encrease, it is not more than one fathom 
deep in the middle. During the greatest part of 
the year it is entirely dry. 

The Saladillo, which is too salt to be potable, 
mav be considered as a continuation of the Rio 
Quinto y whch rises in the hills of Yacanto, south 
of those of Achala, and loses itself in a marshy 
lake called Punto del Sauce; but when it over- 
flows, it communicates by various channels through 
the fiat country with the Saladillo, which breaks 



Saladillo. Hue y que Leuvu. 79 

out a little farther. The Saladillo runs very low 
for the greatest part of the year. At a place called 
Callighon, twenty miles from its mouth, where it 
is very broad, it scarcely reaches the ancles; and 
at its mouth, it would be impossible for the smallest 
boat, if laden, to enter. Yet, in the beginning of 
October, it swells prodigiously ; rises above its 
banks, and is, in the place just mentioned, nearly 
nine feet deep. The flood generally lasts two or 
three months. There are many trees on its banks, 
and a wood, called thelsla Larga, reaches to within 
nine miles of its mouth, which is in the bay of 
Samborombon. 

Though by the Indian boundary, agreed upon 
in the year 1740, the province of Buenos Ay res 
does not extend beyond the river Saladillo; yet, as 
by the occasional excursions of the Spaniards the 
limits of the colony may be said to have been 
stretched considerably farther to the south, it will 
be well here to give an account of the other rivers 
that run from the frontiers of Chili to the Atlantic 
ocean, as far as the second Desaguadero, or Rio 
Negro ; beyond which, no accounts, that are to be 
depended on, are extant. 

The Hueyque Leuvu first attracts the attention. 
This Indian name signifies the River of IFillows, 
from the great number of those trees that grow on 
its banks. The Spaniards have given the name 
of Rio de los Sauces , or the River of Willows, to 
the Cusu Leuvu of the Indians, the great river of 
the second Desaguadero ; and the Hueyque Leuvu 



$0 Blvers — First Desagiiaderd, 

they call the Rio de Barrancas, or the River of 
Sandbanks, It is of considerable size. It is in 
general shallow and fordable, but is sometimes 
greatly swelled by the floods. It is formed in the 
plains between the mountains of Achala and Ya- 
canto, and the first Desaguadero, or Rio Colorado, 
and takes its course south and south-east, through 
the Indian country, till it enters the ocean by two 
openings ; though it. is doubted whether it actually 
has a separate outlet, as, from the reports of the 
Indians, it has been concluded that it joins the 
Rio Colorado, a little above its mouth. 

The First Desaguadero, or Rio Colorado, 
red river, is one of the largest that pass through 
this country. It takes its rise from a great num- 
ber, of streams that issue from the western side of 
the Cordillera, almost as high as the volcano of 
Chuapa, and taking nearly a direct course from 
north to south, passes with a deep and rapid cur- 
rent within about thirty miles of the towns of San 
Juan and Mendoza. A small river that washes 
the former runs into the Desaguadero and the 
Tanui/a, a pretty large river, after receiving the 
Portiliio, that runs from Mendoza, joins it near to 
where it is swallowed up in the lakes of Guana* 
cache. 

These lakes are famous for the great numbers 
of trout caught in them, but more so for burying, 
as it were, in their bosom so vast a river, for here 
it seems to end, terminating in brooks and marshes. 
But it breaks out again at a few leagues distance 3 



Pirst Desaguadero. 81 

In an immense number of rivulets, which, joining 
together, form a large river, called by the Picun- 
ches, Huaranca Leuvu, that is, a thousand rivers^ 
either from the many lesser rivers of which it is 
composed, or from the great volume of its waters. 
During the whole remainder of its course, till it 
enters the ocean, it is very broad and shallow. 
The Pehuenches call this river Cum Leuvu, or the 
Red River, whence the Spanish name of Colorado ; 
its banks being of a red colour. In the winter, 
when the ground is hardened by the frosts, which 
are not uncommon in these latitudes, in the vici- 
nity of the Cordillera, the Indians pass over the 
marshes without any inconvenience- but when 
the snow melts in the mountains, the Desaguadero 
increases to such a degree, that it overflows the 
marshes, and renders them impassable, except by 
those who are dextrous swimmers. This marshy 
tract extends from the thirty-fourth to the thirty- 
seventh degrees of south latitude, and about one 
hundred and seventy miles in breadth. The De- 
saguadero, from the part where all the small rivu- 
lets are collected into one stream, directs its course 
to the south-east, till it approaches within a day's 
journey of the second Desaguadero, or Rio Negro, 
•when it turns due east for about one hundred and 
fifty miles ; it then turns again to the south-east, 
in whjch direction it continues till it discharges 
itself into the sea. 

At the mouth of this river, there is a large bay 
or opening, called Bahia Anegada, which is very 

G 



82 Rivers — Rio Negro. 

shallow, and full of sandbanks. A Spanish vessel 
was lost, early in the last century, in Bahia Ane- 
gada, the crew of which saved themselves in their 
boats ; and proceeding with them up the river, 
they arrived at Mendoza. The course of this river 
is therefore established past all doubt. In the year 
1734, the masts and part of the hull of the wreck 
remained. 

The second Desaguadero, or Rio Negro, 
Black River, is the largest of all Patagonia, and is 
known by various names besides the above ; it is 
also called, by the Spaniards, the Desaguadero, or 
Drain of Nahuelhuaupi, and the Rio Grande de los 
Sauces ; by some of the Indians^ the Cholehechel ; 
by the Puelches, Leuvu Camo, or, by antonomasia, 
the River ; but its most general Indian name is 
Cusu Leuvu, or the Black River. 

Its real source is not exactly known, but it is 
supposed to rise not far from the sources of the 
river Sanquel ; and like it, to be formed from a 
great number of brooks and small rivers. It runs 
unseen amidst high and broken rocks, and foams 
through a narrow but deep and precipitous chan- 
nel, till at length it shews itself in a very wide 
and rapid stream, somewhat higher than Baldivia, 
but on the opposite side of the Cordillera. A t a 
small distance from where it first emerges from 
the inaccessible glens where it is formed, it is 
joined by many rivers, some of which are large, 
and enter principally on the northern side. 

Of the rivers that enter it from the north, one, 



Sang ue I . S3 

the Oglen, may be called large, broad, and deep ; 
and proceeds from a lake, nearly thirty-six miles 
in length, and almost circular, called Huechun 
Lavguen, or Lake of the Boundary. This lake is 
about two days journey from Baldivia, and is fed 
by the numerous springs and rivulets of the Cor- 
dillera. 

Another river, which runs into the Rio Negro 
from the north, comes higher up from the foot of 
the Cordillera, and crosses the country from north- 
west to south-east. It is called .Pichee Picuntu 
Leuvu, or Little River of the North, to distinguish 
it from the Sanquel ; each of them being denomi- 
nated by the Indians the River of the North. It 
is distant from the junction of the Sanquel about 
four or five days journey. 

The Sanquel is one of the largest rivers of the 
country, and may be considered as another Desa- 
guadero, or drain, of the snowy mountains of the 
Cordillera. It derives its name from a thorny, 
thick, and rough reed, called Sanquel in the idiom 
of the Pehuenches, with which the marshy country 
between this river and the first Desaguadero 
abounds. It is not formed in the marshes, but 
rushing from between the deep chasms of the 
mountains, passes through them, and is augmented 
by their waters. It makes its first appearance at 
a place called Diamante, whence the Spaniards 
sometimes call it the Rio del Diamante. The river 
* Lolgen, which also comes from the Cordillera, and 
joins the Sanquel, has such equal pretensions in 

G 2 



84 



Rivers* 



point of magnitude, that the Indians indifferently 
call their joint streams the Sanquel and the Lolgen 
Leuvu. Broad and rapid from the first, it is 
greatly increased by the moist country through 
which it runs, for the space of three hundred miles; 
and taking almost a direct south-easterly course, 
it enters into the Rio Negro by a very wide and 
open mouth, occasioning by the confluence, dan- 
gerous and innumerable whirlpools. 

On the south side, the Rio Negro is reinforced 
by only two rivers of any note. One is called the 
Lime Leuvu by the Indians s and the Desaguadero 
of Nahuelhuatipi by the Spaniards. This name is 
given by some to the whole of Rio Negro, but it 
is that of only one, and not the largest, of its 
branches. 

This river proceeds, with a rapid stream, from 
the lake of Nahuelhuaupi^almostdue north, through 
vales and marshes, and continues its course for 
about ninety miles, till it enters tha Rio Negro, a 
little below the Olgen. The Indians call it the 
Lime Leuvu, because the marshes through which 
it flows abound with leeches, which are called lime 
in the language of the Huilliches. 

The Lake of Nahuelhuaupi, is the largest that 
is formed by the waters of the Chilian Cordillera, 
and is near one hundred miles in length. It takes 
its name from an island it incloses, called the island 
of Tigers; Nahuel denoting a tiger, and huaupi 
an island. It is situated in a great plain sur# 
rounded by mountains. A "small river enters it 



Rio Negro. SS 

on the south side, which comes from the country 
of Chonos, on the continent opposite to the islands 
of Chiloe. 

The other river which joins the Rio Negro from 
the south, is but small, and is called by the Indians 
Macki Leicvu, or the River of Wizards. It comes 
from the country of the Huilliches, runs south 
and north, and discharges itself into the main river 
a little lower than the Lime Leuvu. Hence the 
Rio Negro takes its course to the east, making a 
small bend northward, where it approaches within 
about sixty miles of the first Desaguadero. It 
then winds down to the south-east till it enters 
the ocean. 

Some distance before it terminates in the sea, 
the river makes a large sweep, forming a peninsula 
about eighteen miles in diameter. It is called 
Tehuel-malal, or the inclosure of the Tehuelhets. 
Till it comes to this place, the river passes through 
a mountainous country, leaving, however, in many 
places, plains of two or three miles broad between 
the hills and the river. These plains are unculti- 
vated, but afford pasture to numerous herds of 
cattle. The banks are covered with willows : it 
has no falls, nor is it fordable in any part. It runs 
with velocity, and is subject to extraordinary floods 
when the rains and melted snow come down from 
the Cordillera ; for the branches of this great drain 
carry off the waters from about seven hundred miles 
in length of that stupendous ridge, from the thirty- 
fifth to the forty-fourth degrees of south latitude. 

G 3 



86 



Rivers. 



The rising of the river is sometimes so sudden, 
that, though it may be heard at a great distance 
beating and roaring amongst the rocks, yet it 
hardly gives sufficient notice to the Indians, for 
the women to strike their tents and carry off their 
baggage, and for the men to secure their cattle by 
removing them to the mountains. Disasters fre* 
quently happen ; the plains are entirely deluged, 
and tents, cattle, and sometimes women and chil- 
dren, are swept away by the impetuous torrent. 

The mouth of the river, which is called by 
the Spaniards the Bay of St, Matthias, and 
sometimes Bahia Sin Fojid, has never been 
fully surveyed. The latter appellation has an 
equivocal meaning, and may either be derived 
from great depth, and be translated, bottomless 
Bay, or it may denote a bay in which, from its 
shallowness, there is no fond or anchorage. The 
former, however, has been supposed to be the 
most rational ground for the appellation, as it does 
not appear likely that a river of such rapidity and 
length of course, descending principally through 
a rocky and mountainous country, would carry 
along with it much sand, or if it did, that the sand 
would lodge in banks at its mouth against the 
force of so violent a current, and obstruct its en- 
trance. 

If the bay of San Matthias be found to afford 
good anchorage, and a harbour is discovered at 
the mouth of the Rio Negro, it would afford a 
most eligible place for a settlement In such an 



l&o Negro, 87 

<event, the peninsula of the Tehuelhets should be the 
scite of the principal establishment, with a fort or 
a few batteries at the harbour. The neck of the 
peninsula is only about three miles wide, and ex- 
cept this small isthmus, there is a space of eighteen 
miles every way, of very fertile land, that is de- 
fended all round by a great and rapid river. The 
waters abound in fish, and the country is well 
stored with game ; cattle and horses are in great 
plenty, and the soil is fit for every useful produc- 
tion of Europe, and many of South America. The 
adjacent Indians are a bold and hardy race, and an 
advantageous traffic might be established with 
them for hides, tallow, and furs. The whale and 
seal-fisheries along the coast, might be carried on 
to any extent. But the principal political advan- 
tages to be derived from a settlement here, would 
be the ready access which the great river on which 
it would be situated would afford into Chili, and 
to fhose Indians on its frontiers, who are almost 
constantly in a state of insurgence against the 
Spaniards. 

To return, however, to the description of the 
rivers : — After having followed the course of all 
those which run to the south, there are a few which 
claim attention in the province of Los Charcas, 
which run to the north, and swell the mighty vo- 
lume of the Maragnon, 

Excepting the rivers which fall into the lakes 
Titiaca and Paria, they all join to form the Rio 
Madera, one of the largest tributaries to the 

4 



88 Rivers — Beni, Madera, Mamore, 



Maragnon. They are distinguished by various 
names. 

The Rio Beni rises in the second Cordillera, 
and runs south and north as far as the tenth de- 
gree of latitude, where it takes a sharp turn to the 
east, to join the Madera. It is of sufficient mag- 
nitude to have been compared to the Danube. — 
The Rio de la Exaltation is a channel that runs 
across the country from the Rio Mamore to the 
Beni and the Madera. 

The Rio Mamore, which is large and broad, 
rises in the district of Misque, and receives on the 
right the Piray and the Guapay ; the latter of which 
is now known by the title of Rio Grande de la Plata, 
It does not, however, deserve, even where widest, 
the name, of Rio Grande, any more than several 
others upon which that pompous appellation has 
been bestowed in South America. Nor is it much 
deserving of its adjunct, as few mines are known tp 
exist in the country through which it passes. The 
new town of Santa Cruz de la Sierra is situated 
on its banks. 

The Rio Magdalena, or San Miguel, is first 
known under the name of the Pirapiti ; it runs 
from the country of Chaco, through that of the 
Chiquitos, and joins either the Mamore or the 
Madera, by the name of Sara. It flows the most to 
the eastward through the plains, and is subject to 
great floods. 

Of the rivers that communicate with the lakes 
at the foot of the western Cordillera, there is none 



MugddfMUl Desaguadero. 89 

of any note but the Desaguadero or Drain of 77- 
ticca. It runs cut of the lake of trnt name, and 
terminates in that of Paria, which has no vi c ib!e 
outlet: vet, as it is said to abound in whirlpools 
or eddies, it is supposed that the water issues by 
subterraneous passages. Over the river Desag a- 
dero still remains the bridge of rushes constructed 
by Capac Yupanqui, the fifth Inca of Peru, for 
transporting his army to the other side, in order to 
subdue the provinces of Collasuyo, TheDesagua- 
dero is here between eighty and an hundred yards 
in breadth ; flowing with a very impetuous cur- 
rent, under a smooth, and. as it were, a sleeping 
surface. The Inca ordered four Ianre cables to be 
made of a kind of grass which covers the lofty 
heaths and mountains of that countrv, and is called 
by the Indians Ichu. Two of these cables being 
laid across the water, fascines of dry rushes were 
fastened together and laid across them : on these 
the two other cables were laid, and again covered 
with other fascines securely fastened, but smaller 
than the first, and arranged in such a manner as 
to form a level surface. By this means he pro- 
cured a safe passage for his army. This bridge, 
Which is about five }^ards in breadth, and one and 
a half above the surface of the water, is carefully 
repaired or rebuilt every six months, by the inha- 
bitants of the adjacent provinces, in pursuance of 
a law enacted by that Inca, and since several times 
confirmed by the Kings of Spain, on account of 
the great utility of the bridge, which is the only 



90 -Lake ofTitiaca. 

channel of intercourse between the districts sepa- 
rated by the Desaguadero. 

South America does not present so stupendous 
a succession of lakes as form the grand feature 
of the northern portion of the new world; yet 
there are several within the limits of the territory 
under consideration, that are worthy of descrip- 
tion. Those of Xarayes, Guanacache, and Na~ 
huelhuaupi, have already been noticed. 

The lake of Titiaca, or Titicaca, is situated 
in the plains that lie between the two Cordilleras 
of Peru, in the north-western part of the province 
of Los Charcas. It is the most considerable of 
ail the lakes of South America. Its figure is 
irregular, but inclining to oval, and its principal 
direction is north-west and south-east. In cir- 
cumference it is about two hundred and forty 
miles, and in some parts from seventy to eighty 
fathoms in depth. It is navigated by ships and other 
vessels ; but is subject to storms and tremendous 
gusts of wind descending from the lofty mountains 
by which it is surrounded. The first ship that 
the Spaniards built upon it, was immediately 
driven on shore and destroyed by a violent squall, 
and this was considered as so ominous, that many 
years elapsed before another was constructed. 
Ten or twelve rivers, and a number of small 
streams empty themselves into it. Its water, 
though neither bitter nor brackish, is turbid, and, 
from its nauseous taste, not drinkable. Yet it 
abounds with fish, particularly of two kinds: one 



Lake o/Titiaca. 91 

large and palatable, called saehis, and the other 
small, insipid, and bony, termed boyas. Immense 
flocks of waterfowl frequent it; and its shores are 
covered with flags and rushes, which serve many- 
purposes of domestic manufacture. They form 
the basis of the bridge just mentioned, and are 
used even for the construction of canoes.* The 
western borders of the lake are distinguished by 
the appellation of Chucuito, by which name the 
lake itself is sometimes called ; and the east side 
bears that of Omascuyo. The banks are popu- 
lous, fertile, and picturesque, thick sawn with 
towns and villages, which are considered as the 
most pleasant residences of Peru. 

The lake contains several islands ; amongst 
these there is one that is very large, and gives its 
name Titicaca, which in the Indian language sig- 
nifies a mountain of lead to the lake. It was in 
this island that the genius of the first Inca, Manco 
Capac, the illustrious founder of the empire of 
Peru, first conceived the design of civilizing 
the wandering and naked savages that till then in- 
habited the mountains and plains around him. 
Clad in garments of decency and utility, Manco 
Capac, with Mama Oello Huaco, his sister, and 
consort, declared themselves the children of the 
sun, sent by their beneficent parent, who beheld 

* An Indian canoe, made in a very neat manner of reeds and 
grass, in which Mr. Helm was ferried over an arm of the lake Ti- 
jiaca, one hundred any twenty-feet in breadth, is described as only 
ybout a yard broad, and flat like a raft, 



92 



Lakes— P aria, 



with pity the miseries of the human race, to in- 
struct and reclaim them from their ignorance, 
rudeness, and barbarity. The nations around re- 
vered their persons, and followed their instruc- 
tions ; and the introduction of agriculture and in- 
dustry was followed by the establishment of laws 
and institutions, the policy and excellence of which 
produced a mighty empire, and have been the ad- 
miration of succeeding ages, and of polished Eu- 
rope. The Peruvians considered the island of TU 
ticaca as sacred, and in gratitude for the benefits 
derived from the founder of their race, succeeding 
Incas caused the mountain to be levelled and a 
magnificent temple of the sun to be erected on its 
base.* 

The lake Pari A, which communicates with the 
Titicaca, as before said, by the Desaguadero, is of 
considerable dimensions in the rainy seasons, but 
contracted at others. It contains some islands, 

* This was one of the most splendid temples of the empire of 
Peru. Besides the plates of gold and silver with which its walls 
were adorned, it contained an immense collection of riches, as all 
the subjects of the Incas were under an indispensable obligation of 
visiting it once a year, and offering some gift to the memory of 
Manco Capac. .This great accumulation of wealth, however, was 
not destined to fall into the hands of the Spaniards, for the Indians, 
preferred throwing the whole into the lake, to suffering it to be- 
come the prey of their rapacious and" sacrilegious invaders; and 
though numbers of Spaniards, animated with the hopes of acquir- 
ing immense treasures, have made frequent attempts to recover 
them, the great depth of the water and the slimy and muddy na- 
ture of the bottom, have always frustrated their endeavours. 



Lakes — Maniore. IberL 



93 



and the savannahs around it feed large herds of 
cattle and horses. 

The lake Maniore, lies on the left of the Para- 
guay, and does not offer any thing remarkable, 
being little known, except as lying in the route 
of the Portuguese from Brazil to the mines of Ma~ 
tagrosso. 

The lake Iberi, or Caracaras 5 deserves a par- 
ticular description. It lies to the east of the Pa- 
rana, after it has joined the Paraguay, and be- 
tween their united streams and the Uraguay, in. 
the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth degrees of 
south latitude. It is of a very irregular figure, 
nearly two hundred miles in length, but little 
more than forty in breadth. Two rivers issue from 
its eastern extremity ; one, by a meandering 
course to the south-west, falls into the Parana, 
under the name of the Corrientes ; the other, 
under that of Mirinay, though it is sometimes 
called the Iberi, joins the Uraguay. Thus affording 
a very extensive and easy water-communication, 
through a large portion of fertile territory, neither 
intricate nor dangerous. The lake is studded with 
islands, covered with wood, and stocked with deer 
and other game. Vast quantities of wild fowl are 
seen on its surface ; and fish abound in its waters, 
which are remarkably sweet and fresh. A num- 
ber of presidencies, as the missions have been 
called since the expulsion of the Jesuits, are 
established on its shores. These are the most 
nourishing of the province; which is, perhaps, 



94 Salt -lakes, 

owing to the beauty of the environs, and the fer- 
tility of the land, occasioned or augmented by the 
overflowing of the lake, which happens twice a 
year, and sometimes oftener. 

The numerous lakes, that appear in the plains 
of Tucuman, and to the south of Buenos Ayres, 
and swallow up many of the rivers and mountain 
torrents that descend from the Cordillera, do not 
assume individually a character of sufficient mag- 
nitude or importance to deserve separate descrip- 
tions. Their principal characteristic, and that of 
several of the rivers that communicate with them, 
is their being more or less impregnated with salt. 

There is an immense tract of land in these re- 
gions, the soil of which is saturated with fossil 
salt; six or seven hundred miles in length and one 
hundred and fifty in breadth. From below the 
latitude of Cape St. Anthony on the south, 
to the Rio Vermejo on the north : and through- 
out the greatest part of the level country to 
the west of the Parana and Paraguay, all the 
springs are more or less salt ; and few of their 
waters can be drank, till they enter the Parana. 
The rivers that flow from the mountains, however, 
yield excellent water, till they arrive in the salt- 
territory. A considerable quantity of salt is re- 
fined from the earth at Assumption ; but it ap- 
pears in the greatest plenty between Santa Fe and 
Cordova ; and this quality of the soil reaches to 
Sant Jago del Estero, where the whole ground is 
covered with a white incrustration of saLt ; and 



Salt-lakes. 



95 



even quite across to Rioja, at the foot of the Cor- 
dillera ; but this tract is partly barren and desert, 
and produces no plants except the sahola kali, 
which grows to the height of four yards. Natural 
salt-petre is produced in great abundance ; and, 
after a shower of rain the ground appears white 
with it, and chills the feet excessively. Little 
more, however, is collected than is used in manu- 
facturing the fire- works which are displayed for 
the edification and amusement of the converted 
Indians, at the religious festivals of the Romish 
church. 

There are salt-lakes to the south of the Sala- 
dillo, which produce very fine chrystalline-grained 
salt. Journies are frequently undertaken from 
Buenos Ayres to these salt lakes, which lie from 
four hundred to four hundred and fifty miles to 
the south-west, to procure salt, and two or three 
hundred carts are annually loaded with it. The 
lakes are large and broad, and some of them sur- 
rounded by woods to a considerable distance. 
Their banks are white with the salt, which needs 
no other preparation than being exposed a little to 
dry in the sun. 

A lake is described, called Mar Chiquito or Lit- 
tle Sea, near the sea-side, and communicating with 
it, about fifteen miles from Cape Lobos ; and an- 
other called the lake Cahrillosm the same quarter; 
but nothing more remarkable is stated respecting 
them, than the abundance of wild fowl with w.hich 
they abound. 



96 



Rivers and lakes. 



The Rio Grande de Tebiquari^ which communi- 
cates with the ocean at Port San Pedro, and forms 
the lake De Falos^ was formerly considered as the 
boundary between -the Portuguese dominions in 
Brazil, and those of the Spaniards in Paraguay ; 
but the latest line of demarcation has been drawn 
along the mountains at the back of lake Merim, and 
ends in a salt-water lagoon communicating with 
the sea, not far to the northward of Cape St. Maria, 

Ascending and descending the courses of all 
these rivers, and traversing the country in search 
of its waters, its springs, and its lakes, the mind 
contemplates with pleasure and astonishment, the 
immense provision of fertility and convenience that 
is bestowed upon these extended regions, where 

thy world, Col ambus, drinks, refreshed, 

The lavish bounty of the melting year. 

The ridges of the Cordillera are supposed to sup- 
ply more water than all the ranges of mountains 
that intersect the magnitude of Asia, although of 
less than one half their extent. The indolence of 
the Spaniards, however, and the insatiable cupidity 
with which they search alone after the mineral 
treasures that are offered to their avarice in such 
abundance in South America, cause them to 
neglect most of the advantages to be derived from 
so favourable a physical conformation of their 
territories ; nor is the navigation of any of the 
mighty streams of South America either prosecuted 
or encouraged, excepting as affording the partial 



Plains.. 



97 



means of conveying their dollars and their ingots 
from one place of deposit to the other. Inatten- 
tive as to hie productions, incurious as to the fer- 
tility, and insensible to the incalculable advan- 
tages of these countries and their interesting wa- 
ters, they plod on in the same course in which they 
have continued for nearly three centuries; and it 
may truly be said, tha.t the interior of South Ame- 
rica is, to them much less known than the remotest 
provinces of Hindostan are to the British sovereigns 
of Bengal. Hence the accounts that are given of 
the rivers and of the interior part of the country 
must not be considered as wholly unimpeachable ; 
for although their maps of South America give 
places and names to thousands of rivers, numerous 
pretended establishments, and a multitude of Indian 
nations, a great proportion of these are the crea- 
tions of fancy, or the results of Indian reports, im- 
probable and unauthenticated. Should, however, 
British perseverance follow up the victorious blow 
that has been struck in the capture of Buenos 
Ayres, little doubt can be entertained, that we 
shall, ere long, be in the possession of materials for 
verifying or expunging the greatest proportion of 
the names that now appear thickly sown over the 
maps of Spanish South America. 
. The plains of Tucuman and the Gran Chaco, 
have already been partially described. The latter 
are, in general, elevated and dry ; though tra- 
versed by numerous rivers, and incommoded by 
marshes near the Paraguay. They are skirted by 

H 



9S Plahis. 

forests of a grandeur and antiquity that have few 
parallels. They extend from the banks of the Pa- 
raguay, to the limits of the province of Los Char- 
cas, and to the mountains that rise far to the 
north, and which give birth to numerous streams 
on either side. The Chaco abounds in the wild 
animals of the country, and is inhabited by scat* 
tered tribes of Indians, few of whom acknowledge 
either the temporal dominion of the Spaniards, or 
the spiritual yoke of the church. The Guyacu- 
rus are the principal nation who rove over these 
plains. Since the extensive multiplication of the 
horses and cattle, which were originally imported 
by the Spaniards, these Indians have, in common 
with most of the tribes of South America, become 
Expert horsemen, and the most distant Spanish 
settlements are not unfrequently the scene of their 
incursions. The Jesuits had, before their expul- 
sion, succeeded in civilizing and converting a con- 
siderable number of them ; but as it was to the 
insinuating mildness of the missionaries that 
they yielded, so they have resisted the stern and 
military system, which has ensued, and they have 
become apostates from a faith, that allowed of 
such diametrically opposite lines of conduct. 

The level country of Tucuman is more fully 
subdued and better known, and mast of the In- 
dians within that province are subjects of Spain, 
and appropriated amongst the Spanish settlers. 
The fecundity of a great part of this territory is 
Contrasted by a portion that is banen and unpro- 



Plains. 



99 



ductive. It is interspersed with woods, and par- 
tially cultivated. 

The immense plains that extend in almost un- 
interrupted continuity from the banks of the 
Plata to Chili, and to the large rivers of Patago- 
nia, claim particular attention. They present a 
sea of waving grass extending for nine hundred 
miles, with very few interruptions of wood or 
eminence. The succulent and nutritive herbage 
of this tract, affords pasture to those innumerable 
herds of cattle that rove unowned and unvalued 
over a great portion of South America, and whose 
hides and tallow alone, are occasionally sought 
after by the Spanish hunters, and form a principal 
article of the trade of Buenos Ayres. Wild horses, 
the progeny of those imported by the Spaniards, 
likewise abound in these natural meads. They 
wander from place to place against the current of 
the winds; and a traveller has stated that they 
are in such numbers, that, being in those plains 
for the space of three weeks, he was continually- 
surrounded by them. Sometimes they passed by, 
in thick troops on full speed, for two or three 
hours together, during which time, he says, it 
Was with great difficulty, that the party preserved 
themselves from being run over and trampled to 
pieces. At other times, however, the same country 
has been passed over, and no horses have been seen. 

Near the Spanish settlements, and where these 
plains have been tilled, they yield excellent corn, 
and various other productions; whilst numerous 

H 2 



100 



Plains, 



flocks of sheep are also met with in the plains at 
the foot of the mountains of Cordova and Yacanto, 
Between these hills and the Cordillera of Chili * 
lie many spacious and fruitful vallies, watered by 
brooks and rivulets, and beautifully diversified 
with rising grounds. They produce many kinds 
of fruit-trees, apples, peaches, cherries, and plumbs ; 
and also corn where the land is cultivated ; \>x\t 
they are more particularly famous for breeding 
cattle, sheep, and horses, and especially mules. 
Of the mules yearly sent from these provinces to 
Peru, the greatest part comes from the districts 
just described. There are many farms here be- 
longing to those industrious Spaniards who have 
been allured hither, by the fertility of the soil, by 
the facility for breeding cattle, and by the security 
from the incursions of the Indians, who infest 
those only who live more to the south. 

All the rest of the country westward, between 
these mountains, and the first river Desaguadero, 
consists of plains with little water. It contains 
much fine pasture-land, but is uninhabited. It 
is over these plains that passengers from Chili to 
Buenos Ayres travel in companies, which they are 
obliged to do, as the southern tribes of Indians 
often go thither to hunt wild horses, and to rob 
such travellers as they can overpower or surprise. 

The country, which is between Buenos Ayres 
and the river Saladillo, is a complete plain, with- 
out so much as one tree, or any rising ground, till 
near the banks of the river, which is sixty miles 
from the Spanish settlements. On the north bank 



Plains* 



101 



of the Saladillo there are several lakes, bogs, and 
hollows. In dry seasons, when grass fails near 
the shores of the Rio de la Plata, all the cattle that 
belong to the Spanish Estancias or grazing 
farms, of Buenos Ayres, are driven down to the 
banks of the Saladillo, where the grass lasts longer 
on account of the greater depth of soil, and longer 
continuance of the moisture. 

These plains extend to the west as far as the 
Desaguadero or the province of Cuyo, and though 
the rivers Saladillo, Hueyque Leuvu, and the 
first Desaguadero run through them, yet no lesser 
streams cross the country and run into these main 
rivers; besides which no water is to be met with, 
except what is collected in pools when the rains 
fall. This country is not inhabited or cultivated, 
either by the Indians or by the Spaniards, although 
occasionally traversed by both; by the former in 
hunting or predatory excursions, and by the latter 
to pass from Mendoza to Buenos Ayres, or in pur- 
suit of the various objects of the chace, with which 
it abounds. It is the abode of numerous herds of 
wild cattle, horses, and deer ; as well as of a great 
abundance of ostriches, armadilloes*, partridges, 
wild geese, ducks, and other game; and towards 
the frontiers of Chili, guanacoes and vicunnas are 
met with in considerable numbers. 

•* Armadilloes are reckoned amongst the game of South Ame- 
rica ; they are considered as a delicacy, particularly when fat. 
Their taste is said to be something between a sucking pig and a 
rabbit ; they are usually roasted in their armour. 

H 3 



102 



Plains. 



These plains are called Pampas by the Spaniard 
and the savages who rove through them go by the 
same name. Troops of them, sometimes, attack 
travellers ; but their attacks are only successful 
when made by surprise, or when some of the 
Spaniards straggle from their company. The 
route across the leyel country is often pursued by 
the compass, as there are no landmarks or traces 
by which to discover the road for many hundreds 
of miles. They travel in covered carts or cara- 
vans, made almost as commodious as a house, 
with doors to shut, and windows on each side. 
Matrasses are laid out on the floor, on which the 
passengers sleep for the greatest part of the jour- 
ney. The caravans are drawn by oxen, and are 
accompanied by baggage-horses and mules. They 
set out in the afternoon, two hours before sunset, 
travelling all night and till an hour after sun- 
rise in the morning : they then rest, and partake 
of the provisions brought with them, or taken in 
hunting whilst on the journey ; for those who are 
disposed for the chace, take horses and dogs with 
them for the purpose. Travelling in this manner, 
and at so easy a rate may perhaps be considered- as 
making the expedition a pleasant journey, but se- 
veral inconveniences are enumerated, that abate 
the pleasure, and sometimes convert it into pain. 
Besides the apprehension of a surprise from the 
wild Indians, the excessive heats that prevail dur- 
ing the middle of the day, when they have no 
shelter from the sun than what the caravan affords, 



Pampas. 103 

arc the most complained of. Want of water is 
another evil; none is sometimes to be met with 
for several days journey ; travellers therefore 
are obliged to carry a supply of water with them, 
both for themselves and for their cattle; and when 
this happens to be spent, they must suffer great 
distress, unless they are fortunately relieved by a 
shower of rain. Again, when it does rain, it falls 
generally in excessive quantities, against which 
the caravans are seldom a sufficient shelter. The 
westerly winds too that prevail in the Pampas, 
and descend from the high mountains of the Cor- 
dillera, not meeting with any thing to check their 
impetuosity, acquire an inconceivable degree of 
fury, and are of course, a source of inconvenience 
and of danger to travellers ; as well as on their ar- 
rival at the opening of the Plata, of dismay to na- 
vigators, and of terror to the inhabitants of its 
shores. 

The route across the Pampas, by which the in- 
tercourse is carried on between Buenos Ay res and 
Chili, continues nearly in the same state at present 
as when Ovalle wrote his history of Chili ; and no 
stations for the accommodation or protection of 
travellers have been established: but the road 
from Buenos Ayres to Peru, which is much more 
frequented-, is rendered considerably more com- 
modious, and as there are no wild or unsubdued 
Indian tribes that now lie on that track, it is free 
from that danger. In 1748, regular stages were 
fixed all the way, and posthouses were erected and 

H 4 



104 Itinerary 

relays of horses and carriages provided. The 
carriages are caretillas, or covered waggons drawn 
by oxen, but the principal conveyance for all 
kinds of merchandize, and for the treasure that is 
conveyed from the mines of Peru to the banks of 
the Plata, is on the backs of mules. 

A complete itinerary of the journey from Buenos 
Ay res to Potosi, and thence to Lima, and of the 
regular stages and distances, may not here be un- 
acceptable, and will, when compared with the 
map, afford the best idea of this important route 
of communication. The distances are given in 
geographical miles, of sixty to a degree. 

• - Miles 

From Buenos Ayres to Cannada de Moron 15 
To Cannada de Escobar - - -21 

Between this and the next station- runs 
the small river Lujam or Luxam, over 
which there is a bridge leading to the whole 
of the interior; and which is a port of some 
consequence, in a military point of view. 



To Cannada de la Cruz - - - 24 

. Here the plains of Los Pampas commence. 
To Arcos - - - - - - 18 

To Chacras de Ayola - - - - 12 

To Areciye 30 

To Pontezuelos - - - H -12 
To Arroyo, de Ramallo - - - - 18 
To Arroyo de Elmedio - - -15 

To Arroyo de Pabon - - - - 15 
To Mananciales - - - - - 10 



from Buenos Ay res to Potosi, 105 

To Demochados - - - - - 30 

To Esquina de la Guardia - - - 24 

Here is a square entrenchment mounted 
with two pieces of cannon, for the purpose 
of checking the excursions of the wild In- 
dians, who sometimes, crossing the plains 
of Pampas, attack those Spanish farms or 
villages that are weakly guarded . A captain 
and thirty horsemen are stationed here. 

To Cabeza del Tiguere - - -21 

This place lies on the river Tercero, 
which is here crossed, and the route then 
proceeds along its northern bank 

To Saladillo - - - - - 24 

So called from the abundance of native 
salt-petre, which covers the ground here 



like a hoar frost. 

To Barrancas, (a small town) 9 

ToZarjon - 12 

To Frailem Muerto - - - - 12 



Here the plains end, and a forest begins 
which continues on a gentle ascent as far 
as Cordova: the predatory excursions of 
the Indians never extend so far as this, 
and no further retrenchments asfainst them 
occur. 

To Esquino de Medrano - - - IS 
To Paso Ferreira - - - - - 18 
ToLoTioPafio - - - - - 12 
To Cannada del Govierno - - - 30 
To Impira 30 



106 Itinerary 

Leaving the Tercero, the route now pro- 
ceeds 

To Rio Segundo «? * - - - 15 
To Punto dej Monte - - * T 13 

To Cordova, (the second place in the province 

of Buenos Ay res), - - -JO 

making the distance from Buenos Ayres to 

Cordova, 468 miles, 
From Cordova to Noria, along the foot of a 

branch of the Cordillera, here called the 



mountains of Cordova * - * 21 

To Sinsacate . » * « - 1.1 

To Tort oral - * - - « 18 

To San Antonio r * * r * 15 

To Coral de Baranca ~ - - * 15 



Here the mountains rise considerably in 
height, and the vallies are covered with 
palm-trees. 

To San Pedro - * * » * 12 

To Durazno - - - - ^12 

To Channar o Cachi, (through a broad and 

pleasant valley) * « * - 15 

ToPontezuelo - * ' • - -27 

To Remanso - 24 

To Yuncha - 90 

ToSilipica^ 33 

To San Jago del Estero, (a small decayed 

town) 33 

After passing the Rio Dolce, on which 

this town lies, the vallies are very deep, 



from Buenos Ayres to PptosL 107 

and the reflection of the heat from the sides 
of the mountains is very great. 
Jo San Antonio * * - * r 18 
To Chachiila - ' - - * - 24 

To Vfaara r r - - - - 24 
The river takes many windings here, and 
\s several times passed and repassed. When 
the snow melts on the Cordillera it swells 
to a dangerous degree. 
To Palmas - - - « - - IS 

ToTalacacha 18 

To Tucuman, (a town of recent establishment) 24 
The whole ridge of mountains, after 
passing this place, abounds in the precious 
rnetals, and the mines of the vicinity give 
wealth to the inhabitants. The mountains, 
before coming to Tucuman, are composed of 
primitive granite, intermixed with argilla- 
ceous slate of various colours. Strata of 
limestone, and large masses of ferruginous 
sandstone, lie in many places over the slate. 
Coal, gypsum, and rock-salt are also found 
in them ; the latter even on the summits of 
the most elevated ridges. Tucuman is 
about 450 miles from Cordova. 
To Tapia - - - - - 21 

To Duralde, (on a mountain stream of the 
same narhe) - - - .. - 24 

The road is here very bad. 
To Paso del Pescado, (through thick woods) 18 
To Arenal -27 



I OS Itinerary 

To Rosario - - - - » - 15 
Concha * 2Q 

Granite is no longer seen in the moun- 
tains, which, hence to Potosi, principally 
consist of simple argillaceous schistus. The 
main ridge rises here considerably; the 
woods thicken, and the trees appear loftier 
and larger. 

To Rodeo de Tala - - - -24 

To Pasage, on the river Salado, which, how- 
ever, is here called the Pasage - - 24 

Salt is found incrustrated on the banks 
of this river. 

To Sienage ? - i - - - 30 
To Cobos - - - - - - 21 

To Salta, (a considerable place on the small 
river Arias} - - - - - 27 

Here the route turns over the main ridge 
of the middle Cordillera, the summits of 
which are covered with snow, and hidden 
by the clouds. The caretillas are here laid 
aside, and mules alone are fit to perform 
the rest of the journey over the highest 
mountains of the globe, and through the 
most wretched and fatiguing roads. The 
journey is particularly dangerous during 
summer, when the numerous rapid rivers 
and torments that descend through the gul- 
lies, and which are frequently crossed and 
re-crcfssed, often swell very suddenly, and 
carry away travellers, mules, and baggage. 



from Buenos Ay res to Potosu 109 

A few hours after leaving Salta, the intense 
heat of the vallies is exchanged for the pierc- 
ing cold of the snowy summits ; and the 
woods which clothe the inferior ridges cease 
altogether, or are stunted and scanty. 
ToCaldera - - - - - - IS 

To Buena Volundad - - - - 17 

To Jujui, (a small town) - - - 6J 

To Bolcan, (situated on a pretty large tor- 
rent) ----- - 27 

The ascent is here circuitous and more 
gradual. 

To Los Ormilios - 27 

To Guacatera, (a small Indian town) - 18 

The road winds as much as possible 
through the vallies between the mountains. 
To Humaguaca - - - - - 18 

Rock salt occurs here again. 
To Cueba ------ 2 \ 

To Los Colorados - - - - IS 

The mountains are here very irregular 
and broken, and about eight miles farther 
is the highest part of this Cordillera, which 
the traveller passes. It is a favourite haunt 



of the lamas, guanacos, and vicunnas. 

To Cangrejos 40 

To Guayaca - - - - 27 

To Mojos, or Moxos, (an Indian town) - 21 



Here the provinces that formerly be- 
longed to Peru, and are now incorporated 
with the viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres, com- 



llO Itinerary 

mence. In the mountains round Mojog 
are a great many veins of quartz, contain- 
ing gold, copper* lead, and iron, but few of 
the veins containing gold are worked. Near 
the town, a considerable stratum of mag- 
net ical iron-sand is full of particles of gold, 
which is imperfectly collected by washing* 
Similar alluvial layers containing gold and 
resting on the base of argillaceous slate 
occur till within a short distance of Potosi. 
To Suli pacha - - - - - £4 

To Mojara 24 

To Bamada - 18 

To San Jago de Cotagoita - - - 12 

Near this little town much gold is washed 
from the mountains. 
To Escobar - - - - - - 15 

To Guirbe 18 

ToZumpalca - - - - - 18 

A large mountain-stream, here decorated 
with the name of Rio Grande, crosses the 
road repeatedly, on the descent 

To Caiza 18 

Here is a hot spring, impregnated with 
hepatic gas, brimstone, and a friable clay 
replete with crystals of alum. 
To Potosi 36 
Making from Buenos Ayres to Potosi, one 
thousand six hundred and seventeen geo- 
graphical miles. 

From the ridge of the Cordillera, through which 



> 



from Buenos Ayres to Potosi. 1 i 1 

the above route passes, and about twelve miles from 
Potosi, where it inclines to the north, the torrents 
descend on one side to the south, and form those 
rivers which flow into the Paraguay and Parana, 
and on the other side they join the Madera, and com- 
municate with the Maragnon. The proper time 
for passing the Cordillera is from the months of 
March to July, In the other months of the year 
the roads are excessively bad and dangerous ; and 
the incessant rains, the dreadful storms of thunder 
and of hail, and the frequent and sudden swelling 
of the streams, render travelling over the moun- 
tains, at those times, a series of intolerable hard- 
ship, and imminent danger. 

Till within eighteen miles of Potosi, the vallies 
produce small trees and bushes, but farther on 
they are entirely destitute of wood ; and on the 
precipices and declivities nothing grows but 
patches of green spongy moss, w r hich serves for 
food for the lamas, and for the sheep, asses, and 
mules which belong to the inhabitants of these 
mountainous districts. A circumstance particu- 
larly deserving of the attention of the geologist is, 
that the highest mountains, nine miles from Potosi, 
are covered with a thick stratum of granitic stones, 
rounded by the action of water. This is the 
more surprising, as the granitic ridge terminates 
several hundred miles towards Tucuman ; whence 
to Potosi the mountains are chiefly composed of 
argillaceous slate. 

A future occasion will occur to describe the 
city and celebrated mines of Potosi. The con- 



ItS Itinerary 

tinuation of the itinerary to Lima, though partly 
beyond the political boundary of the viceroyalty 
of Buenos Ayres, is wanting to complete the 
knowledge of this laborious, but interesting, inland 
communication : — - Miles 
From Potosi to Jocalla is - ' - - 9 

To La Lenna - ^ * - - - IS 
Argillaceous slate continues here to be 
the chief component part of the mountains, 
with a stratum of sand -stone upon it. — ■ 
Farther on, alluvial hills occur on both 
sides, with rounded masses of granite* The 
roads are very bad, and the mountains very 
rugged and broken. At Lenna, the granite 
masses are again succeeded by a stratum of 
deep red rough-grained sand-stone. 
To Laa'umillas - * - - 16 

The descent begins here to be rapid, into 
sl valley which, with little interruption, ex- 
tends above six hundred miles to Cusco, 
To Tolapalca $5 
To Guilcapuzico - - - - 12 

To Aniacato - - - - - 15 

To Las Pennas - - - - -25 

The land here is fertile and populous, 
interspersed with villages. 
To Condor Apocheta - - - - 15 
To La Venta de en Medio - - - 15 

To Oruro (formerly a wealthy place, but now 
much decayed) - - - - - 27 
Oruro is the last place in the viceroyalty of 
Buenos Ayres. 



from Poiosi to Lima. 1 1 3 

Here die valley becomes level. — Four 
miles from Ornro it is covered with a saline 
incrustation, mixed with saltpetre. 
To Caracollo ------ 27 

The summits of the ridge which borders 
the valley still continue covered with snow: 
it runs here north and south. 
To Panduro - - - - - - 15 

To Sicasica (in a very fertile district) - -24 

ToTambillo 12 

To Ayoayo - - - - - ^ 12 

The mountains to the west contain many 
veins of rich quartz. 
To Calamarca - - - - - - 15 

Amongst the quartzoze chrystals which 
abound here, small topazes are sometimes 
found. 

To Ventilla - - - - - - 13 

To La Paz (a considerable town) - - 12 
The mountain at the foot of which La 
Paz is built, is the highest of the Cordillera 
all around, and is never free from snow at 
its summit. The whole ridge, from Sicasica 
to La Paz, abounds in rich gold ore ; and 
there are, likewise, many veins of rich silver 
ore in the argillaceous slate. 
To La Laja - - - - - - 18 

To Tiaguanaco* - - - - - 21 

* The name of this place is said to have originated in the fol- 
lowing manner : — An Inca here met with one of his messengers, 
whose dispatch, on the errand he had been sent, was so great 3 

i 



114 Itinerary 

At this place there is an immense pyra- 
mid, and a number of obelisks and colossal 
statues of stone, the monuments of ancient 
times, and by some supposed to have been 
erected anterior to the monarchy of the 
Incas. The west side of the mountains * 
consists, as before, of fine argillaceous slate, 
and the Indians formerly found much rich 
ore in it. 

To Guaqui - - * - * 12 
Guaqui lies on the lake Titiaca, along the 
shores of which the route continues as far 
as Chucuito. The borders of the lake are 
beautifully diversified with hills and dales, 
and are depastured by numerous herds of 
oxen, mules, horses, and sheep. 
ToZepita 22 
To Chesta \% 
To Pomata ...... 9 

To Juli (a. populous Indian town) - - 12 
To Uabe, or Uave - - - * - \5 
Six miles from Uabe there is a ferry over 
an arm of the lake. 
To Acora - - - - -15 

To Chucuito (which gives its name to all the 

that it might be compared to the swiftness of the g.uanaco. The 
Inca, alluding to this circumstance, said to the messenger, when 
brought into his presence, Tia-guanaco, be seated guanaco. To 
perpetuate the remembrance of the celerity of the messenger, and 
the condescension of the monarch, this name was substituted for 
that which the place formerly bore* 



from Potosi to Lima, \\5 

western shores of the lake Titiaca, and 
sometimes to the lake itself) 9 

The silver-mines of Puno, the chief town 
of a district of the same name, nine miles 
from Chucuito, are very rich ; but the 
mines are filled with water, and the pro- 
prietors have neither the capital nor the 
skill requisite for draining them. 
To Caracato *> 24 

To Calapuja - - - - - -21 

The ores obtained from a soft porphyritic 
ridge, extending eighteen miles in this 
neighbourhood, are very rich, yielding 
about ten marks of silver per hundred 



weight. 

To Pucara - 24 

To Aguaviri - - - - - - 15 

To Santa Rosa - - - - - 18 

To Larucachi - - - - - 27 

To Concha - - - - - IS 



The valley here becomes wider, and a 
large rapid river requires to be frequently 
forded. 

To Chiacupi (a pleasant, fertile, and populous 
country) -------12 

A broad river is here passed on a flying- 
bridge, or tarabita, made of basket-work, 
which are not unfrequent, and the con- 
struction of which will be described in 
the sequel. 

To Quiquijani - - - « 15 

I 2 



116 Itinerary 

To Hureos - - - - - - 35 

To Oropeza - - - - - - 9 

The road now begins gradually to ascend, 
and to diverge from the river which extends 
along the valley. 
To Cusco (the capital of Peru under the Incas) 12 
To Zurito - - - - - - 21 

To Limatambo - - - - - 18- 

To Carretas - - - - - -12 

The ascent up the western Cordillera be- 
gins here, and is steep and bold. The 
base of argillaceous slate is covered with a 
superstratum of marie, gypsum, lime-stone, 
sand, a large quantity of rock-salt, and 
some fragments of porphyry. The w T hoIe 
ridge appears to be full of veins of heavy 
silver-ore, in which are found pieces of 
pure silver, solid copper and lead ore, in- 
termixed with a great quantity of white 
silver ore and capillary virgin silver. 
To Carahuasi - - - - - - 15 

Here is another flying-bridge over a rapid 
and broad river that runs towards the Ma- 
ragnon. About sixty miles west from Ca- 
rahuasi, some gold-mines are worked, and 
one of silver. 
To Avancay - - - - - - 3(> 

To Cochacajas - - . - - - IS 

Soon after leaving this village, the road 
ascends in a zigzag direction for eight miles 
#n one of the highest shelves of the Cor- 



from Potosi to Lima. 117 

dillera, and descends on the other side 
down dangerous precipices. 
To Pincos - - - - - - IS 

Sixty miles west of Pincos, in the pro- 
vince of Almaray, there are rich veins of 
gold ore in quartz. 
To Andaguaylas - - - - 18 

To Uripa -30 
Soon after leaving Uripa, another vast 
ridge must be climbed and descended to- 
wards a rapid river, the passage over which 
is by a dangerous Indian hanging-bridge 
suspended by ropes, one hundred and 
twenty feet in length. 
To Tambo de Ocros - « - -36 

To Congallo - - - - - - IS 

To Guamanga (the residence of a governor) 18 

Rich silver ore abounds near Guamans;a. 
To Guanta - - - - - -18 

To Parcos - - - ' : . > - - 30 

To Paucara - - - - - -12 

To Guancavelica - - - - -24 

The famous quicksilver-mines of Guan- 
cavelica merit particular notice; and though 
within the viceroyalty of Lima, occasion 
will be taken to give a description of them 
hereafter. 

To Cotay -30 
To Turpo - - * - - - IS 
The cold is very intense in the elevated 
regions through which the road passes. 
I 3 



118 Itinerary from Potest to Lima. 

To Vinnas 24 

The descent to Vinnas, which is situated 
in a narrow valley, is very precipitous. 

To Jangas - - - * - IS 

The path that winds down the moun- 
tains is, in many places, scarcely more than 
a foot broad, and one false step of the mule 
would precipitate himself and his rider into 
the abyss below. 

To Lunaguana - - - - 18 

This lies in a narrow sandy valley, which 
produces a very great abundance of all the 
fruits natural to the country. 

To Cannette - - - - * - 18 
A little beyond Cannette, the Cordillera 
terminates, and a sandy plain is entered. 

To Asia - 1 8 

To Mala 12 

ToChilca 12 

Here again the low vallies are incrustated 
with salt, above an inch in thickness. This 
salt, formed by the heat of the sun, is col- 
lected and sold at Lunaguana. 

To Lurin 21 

To Lima - - - - - 18 

In all, from Potosi to Lima, one thousand 

two hundred and fifteen miles; and from Buenos 

Ayres to Lima, upwards of two thousand eight 

hundred geographical miles. 

Of the immense trouble, inconvenience, and 

expense incurred by so long a conveyance by land, 



Navigation of the Vermejo, 119 

the foregoing itinerary will give some idea. Yet, 
the longest, though it is true not the most difficult, 
part, might be superseded by an inland naviga- 
tion, for which the rivers of Tucuman afford every 
facility. The Pilcomayo has been stated to be 
navigable, at times, up to its source near Potosi ; 
enterprize and industry would soon overcome the 
obstacles that present themselves to its complete 
navigation, were the country through which it 
passes more fully explored, and possessed by a less 
indolent nation. At all events, however, the Rio 
Vermejo has been very lately navigated with com* 
plete success down the entire course of its 
stream. 

In 1790, Don Fernandez Cornejo, a colonel of 
militia, resident at Salta, undertook a voyage down 
the Vermejo. His object was at first thwarted by 
ignorance and envy; but at length he was fur- 
nished with the means of executing It by Donna 
Josefa Meono, the lady of Don Nicolas de Arre- 
dondo, viceroy of Buenos Ayres. He embarked 
in June, 1790, at a small haven or bay formed in 
the Vermejo, at its confluence with the Centa, on 
board a xebec, with a party of twenty-six persons 
on board his vessel and two canoes which accom- 
panied him. After a navigation of forty-four_days, 
he reached the spot where the Vermejo discharges 
itself into the Paraguay, about seventy miles to 
the north of Corrientes, being a distance of about 
a thousand miles, without encountering the least 
obstacle. 

I 4 



120 



Mountains. 



It was expected that the discovery of this river, 
being so easy navigable, would have afforded great 
advantages to the commercial intercourse between 
Paraguay and Peru ; but no consequences of that 
kind have resulted from it, and the enterprise of 
Cornejo, as well as the liberality of his patroness, 
have been fruitless to awaken the sluggish nature 
of the Spanish government, or to remove the per- 
tinacity of its subjects in following a beaten and 
accustomed track ; for the whole of the communi- 
cation between Buenos Ayres, Potosi, and Lima, 
still continues to be carried on by the route just 
described, attended of course by great delays and 
heavy expenses. 

It may be observed, that though Cornejo em- 
ployed forty-four days to descend the river, yet^ 
as he navigated likewise with a purpose of ex- 
ploring its banks, and the country through which 
it ran, much time was consumed in those colateral 
objects of his expedition. It has been supposed 
that three weeks would suffice for the voyage down, 
and from thirty to forty days for that up the river, 
the current of which is by no means violent. 

The mountains by which the extensive area 
watered by the Paraguay and its allied steams is 
bounded, are amongst the most remarkable in the 
world for height, for grandeur, ana 1 for riches. Those 
on the eastern side, which form the Brazilian ridge, 
are the least elevated. They form a cluster of 
mountains towards the interior provinces of Minaes 
Geraes and Matagrosso, and diverge in chains 



Brazilian ridge. 121 

both to the north and south. They are generally 
covered with thick forests, interspersed with por- 
tions that, from their elevation or natural aridity, arq 
devoid of vegetation? Gold is produced in many 
parts, and mines of that metal were explored in 
these mountains at the earliest period of the Porta-? 
guese settlement in Brazil. The diamonds of this 
country were first discovered in 1681, and are 
found on the eastern side of the mountains. Some 
rich gold-mines were reported to exist on the Spa- 
nish side of the ridge, whilst the Jesuits were in 
possession pf the country ; but they have either 
proved of little value, or do not actually exist, or 
perhaps have been purposely concealed. 

Of the mountainous region to the north of Para- 
guay, of which Matagrosso may be called" a part, 
little has been written, and less is known. It has 
been supposed that the great area of the Maragnon 
and the Oronoco, communicates by a large space 
of level country with that of the Paraguay ; and 
even that an actual junction of the waters of these 
celebrated rivers takes place beyond where the lake 
Xarayes exists, or is supposed to exist ; and this 
idea has been strengthened by its having been 
found that the Maragnon and the Oronoco actu- 
ally do communicate with each other. A little 
reflection, however, will easily subvert this theory. 
The Maragnon and the Oronoco flow in parallel 
directions ; and though some heights of land must 
and do intervene, to keep their beds distinct, 
f>realfs iri tjiose heights would afford channels of 



122 Mountains. 

communication for their waters without affecting 
the level of their surface. But the Paraguay, and 
its auxiliaries, all mighty and rapid rivers, flow in 
a direction widely different from the Maragnon, 
and form almost a right angle with it, running with a 
velocity that indicates a great declivity in a con^ 
trary direction away from the course of its stream. 
From the magnitude of these rivers, it must be 
concluded that the mountains, whence they rise, 
must be immense reservoirs of moisture, and of a 
size and elevation proportionate to the volume and 
current of the waters descending from them. 
Hence any breaks or interruptions in them could 
not afford a communication between the waters 
that flow in opposite courses, unless they were 
sunk nearly to a level with the mouths of the Ma- 
ragnon and the Plata ; and in that case it is evi^ 
dent that such a depression would afford an inlet 
for the waters of the ocean from the mouths of 
the Maragnon, and form almost a Mediterranean 
sea. 

The chain of mountains may therefore be consi- 
dered as extending quite across the continent from 
Brazil to the Cordillera of Peru, taking a south- 
westerly range towards Santa Cruz de la Sierra, 
and Potosi . The province of Los Charcas, however, 
includes a considerable proportion of the two 
principal chains that run from north to south, 
along the eastern part of Pern. Between these 
two chains lie the elevated plains of Cusco, with 
the rugged, but rich, districts of Los Charcas. 



Cordilleras. 



123 



It is here that the mountains of the Cordillera 
assume an aspect of unrivalled sublimity. Their 
elevation carries them much above the region of 
the clouds, and covers their aspiring summits with 
eternal snows. Lower down, where the snow is 
only temporary or occasional, naked rocks and 
intervening sterile and sanely deserts present them- 
selves, bordered, however, with various kinds of 
lichen that grow in the crevices, and afford a com- 
mencement of vegetation. A kind of wiry grass 
or rush, called Ichu by the Peruvians, and which 
appears to be the natural focd of the guanacos and 
vicunnas, succeeds, and is the characteristic of 
those tracts which the Spaniards call Paramos, 
in which no trees grow, and where no rain, but 
only snow, falls, though it dissolves almost imme- 
diately. Amidst these regions of frost and steri- 
lity, volcanos of various dimensions appear at in- 
tervals, to diversify the scene, and add to its awful 
sublimity. Seven craters, none of them inferior 
to Vesuvius or to Etna, are constantly in a state 
of ignition in the Peruvian chain, and no less than 
sixteen are enumerated along the Chilian Cordil- 
lera. 

The mountains of secondary elevation are co- 
vered with stately forests ; and it is down their 
sides, and through the dark chasms and glens that 
sink between them, that those numerous torrents 
roll, which have already been described as uniting 
to form the immense rivers that flow to the east- 
ward. The narrow vallies that are interspersed 



Mountains. 



amongst them, though placed at a greater eleva-* 
tion above the level of the sea than the tops of the 
Pyrenees, enjoy, from their sheltered situation, a 
temperate and favourable climate, which adapts 
them to the production of the most luxuriant 
crops. 

The most lofty regions are wholly uninha- 
bitable ; but in those called Paramos, and where 
mines are worked or sought after, the few inhabit- 
ants are subject to asthmas, pleurisies, and rheu- 
matisms ; and these disorders are generally fatal 
to such as have previously been infected with the 
syphilitic poison, or are addicted to the immo-> 
derate use of strong liquors, which is unfortu- 
nately too generally the case, both with those who 
are born there, and who have been led by cupidity 
to take up their abode in these unfavourable 
climes. The lower ranges are not afflicted with 
these, but are subject to more destructive scourges. 
Putrid and intermittent fevers are common, and 
are often so malignant that the inhabitants of en-* 
tire towns are sometimes obliged to abandon their 
habitations till a change of season has purified 
them. It was not thus in the time of the Incas, 
but it is supposed that since the introduction of the 
sugar-cane by the Spaniards in the narrow vallies 
between the mountains, where the air cannot cir- 
culate freely, infectious vapours rise from the 
moistened soil which that cultivation requires, 
which, when heated by the rays of a tropical and 
burning sun, become mortal. 



Cordilleras. 



When travellers pass over the lofty ridges, it is 
said, that from the rarefaction of the air, they can 
scarcely breathe, and are afflicted with nausea. 
This is one of the inconveniences they suffer, but 
it is of trifling import when compared to the im- 
minent danger they are exposed to in some of the 
narrow passes and steep declivities. The itinerary 
of the route from Buenos Ayres to Lima, displays 
some of those dangers, which appear in tenfold 
array along the less frequented paths across the 
Cordillera. Their ruggedness is not easily de- 
scribed. In many places the road is so narrow 
that the mules have scarcely room to set their 
feet, and in others it is a continual series of preci- 
pices. These paths are full of holes from two to 
three feet deep, in which the mules set their feet, 
and draw their bellies and the rider's legs along 
the ( ground. Indeed these holes serve as steps, 
without which the precipices would, in a great 
measure, be impracticable ; but should the crea- 
ture happen to set his foot between two of these 
holes, or not place it right, the rider falls ; and, if 
on the side of the precipice, inevitably perishes. 
The danger is, however, greater, where these 
holes, or camelones as the Spaniards call them, are 
wanting. For the tracks are extremely steep and 
slippery, in general chalky and wet ; and where , 
there are no holes to serve as steps, Indians are 
obliged to go before with small spades, which they 
carry with them for that purpose, to dig little 
trenches across the path. This work is continual, 



126 



Mountains, 



every party requiring a repetiti on of it, for in less than 
a night, the rain utterly destroys all the trenches 
cut during the preceding day. In descending 
these places, where there are no holes or trenches, 
and which are sometimes several hundred yards 
deep, the instinct of the mules that are accustomed 
to pass them, is admirable. They are sensible of 
the caution requisite in the descent. On coming 
to the top of an eminence, they stop, and having 
placed their fore feet close together, as in a posture 
of stopping themselves ; they also put their hind 
feet together, but a little forwards as if going to 
lie down. In this attitude, having, as it were, 
taken a survey of the road, they slide down with 
the swiftness of a meteor. All the rider has to do 
is to keep himself fast in the saddle, without check- 
ing his beast ; for the least motion is sufficient to 
disorder the equilibrium of the mule, in which 
case they must both unavoidably perish. The 
address of these creatures is here truly wonderful, 
for in this rapid motion, when they seem to have 
lost all government of themselves, they follow 
exactly the different windings of the path, as if 
they had before accurately reconnoitered, and pre- 
viously settled in their minds, the route they were 
to follow, and taken every precaution for their 
safety, amidst so many irregularities. There 
would indeed otherwise be no possibility of tra- 
velling* over such places, where the safety of the 
rider depends on the experience and address of 
his beast. 



Cordilleras. 



127 



But the longest practice in travelling these 
dangerous roads, cannot wholly divest them of a 
dread or horror which they shew when they arrive 
at the top of a steep declivity. They stop without 
being checked by the rider ; and if he inadver- 
tently endeavours to spur thern on, they remain 
immoveable, nor will they stir from the spot till 
they have put themselves in the above-mentioned 
posture. They seem to be actuated by reason ; 
for they not only attentively view the road, but 
they tremble and snort at the danger. The In-, 
dians go before, and place themselves along the 
sides of the mountains, holding by the roots of 
trees, to animate the beasts with shouts, till they 
at once start down the declivity. 

There are indeed some places where these de- 
clivities are not on the sides of precipices ; but 
the road is so narrow and hollow, and the sides so 
perpendicular, that the danger is almost equal ; 
for the track being extremely confined, and scarce- 
ly wide enough to admit the mule with its rider ; 
if the beast falls, the man must be crushed, or, for 
want of room to disen^a^e himself, have a limb 
broken. It is really wonderful to observe the 
mules, after they have overcome the first emotions 
of fear, and are going to slide down the declivity, 
with what exactness they stretch out their fore 
legs, that by preserving a due equilibrium they 
may riot fall on one side, yet, at a proper distance, 
make with their bodies, that gentle inclination 
necessary to follow the several windings of 



Mountains* 



the path ; as well as their address in stopping 
themselves at the end of their impetuous career. 
The human species could not shew more prudence 
or conduct than the mules do ; and some of them, 
after being long used to these journies, acquire a 
kind of reputation for their skill and safety, and 
are accordingly highly valued. 

Most of the torrents that are passed in travel- 
ling over the Cordillera, are fordable ; though 
their impetuosity when swelled by rains is often 
such as to detain travellers for several days. But 
where they are too deep to be forded, or the banks 
too inaccessible, bridges are thrown over them of 
a singular make, but such as 4 notwithstanding 
their apparent dangerous and fragile construction, 
are found to answer the purposes required. Where 
the river is very narrow with high banks, they 
are constructed of wood ; and consist only of four 
long beams laid close together over the precipice, 
and forming a path of about a yard and a half in 
breadth, being just sufficient for a man to pass 
over on horseback, and custom has rendered those 
bridges so natural to the natives that they pass 
over them without any apprehension. Where the 
breadth of the river will not admit of any beam 
to be laid across, bujucos bridges are thrown over. 
In the construction of these, several bujucos, a 
kind of thin elastic cane, are twisted together,' so 
as to form a large cable of the length required. 
Six of these are stretched from one side of the 
river to the other, two of which are considerably 



Bujuco-hridges. 129 

higher than the other four. On the lower four are 
laid sticks in a transverse direction, and over these, 
branches of trees ; the two uppermost are fast- 
ened to the others in the form of rails, for the se- 
curity of the passengers, who would otherwise be 
in no small danger from the continual oscillation. 
These bujuco-bridges are only for men, the mules 
swim over the rivers, for which purpose, when 
their burthens are taken off, they are driven into 
the water considerably above the bridge, that they 
may reach the opposite bank near to it, as the ve- 
locity of the current carries them a good distance 
down. In the mean time the Indians carry over 
the loading on their shoulders. 

Some rivers, instead of a bujuco-bridge, are 
passed by means of an invention denominated a 
tarabita. This machine not only carries over the 
passengers, but also their cattle, and loading. 
They are used to pass those torrents, whose ra- 
pidity, and the large stones continually rolling 
along them, render it impossible for the mules to 
swim over them. The tarabita is only a single 
rope made of bujuco, or of thongs of an ox-hide, 
twisted together, and abo>ut six or eight inches in 
thickness. This rope is extended across the ri- 
ver, and fastened on each bank to strong posts. 

On one side is a kind of wheel or winch to straiten 
i- * - 

or slacken the tarabita to the degree required. 

From the tarabita hangs a kind of leathern ham- 
mock, capable of holding a man ; and suspended 
by a clue at each end. A rope is fastened to each 

K 



130 



Mountains* 



end of the hammock, and extended to each side of 
the river, for drawing the hammock to the side in- 
tended. A push at its first setting off, sends it 
quickly to the other side. 

For carrying over the mules two tarabitas are 
necessary, one for each side of the river, and the 
ropes are much thicker and slacker. The creature 
is suspended and secured by girths round the 
belly, neck, and legs. It is then shoved off, and 
immediately landed on the opposite shore. The 
mules that are accustomed to be carried over in 
this manner, never make the least motion ; but it 
is with great difficulty that they are at first 
brought to suffer the girths to be put round them ; 
and when they find themselves suspended, they 
kick and fling in a terrible manner. 

Amidst all these dangers and inconveniences, 
the security against robbery is, perhaps, some 
compensation. Single persons travel unarmed 
with a great charge of gold and silver, equally 
safe, as if strongly guarded. If a traveller hap- 
pens to be fatigued in a desert, he may lie dow r n 
and sleep without the least apprehension of danger. 
Or if he takes up his lodgings in a tambo*, he 
may sleep with the same security, though th@ 
doors are always open. 

A singular optical phenomenon is recorded as 

* Tambos were originally public buildings in the nature of the 
Turkish caravanserais, erected by the Incas, along their principal 
roads for the accommodation of travellers ; but the name is not un- 
frequcntly given to the Spanish ians or postbouses along the route. 



Chilian Cordillera, 



131 



occurring to those who visit the tops of the Cor- 
dilleras. The figure of the observer is seen re- 
flected upon the clouds, its head surrounded by 
concentric circles of the prismatic colours, making 
generally three circular iris 5 , and at some distance, 
a fourth arch entirely white. This reflected fi- 
gure moves in whatever direction the person of 
the observer does $ but what is most remarkable 
is, that when several persons are together, each 
one sees the phenomenon with regard to himself, 
but can not perceive ft as relating to the others. 

The mean height of the Cordilleras of Peru is 
estimated at fifteen thousand feet above the level 
of the sea, and the most elevated peaks rise to 
the inconceivable height of upwards of twenty 
thousand feet. 

The Chilian Cordillera does not yield in eleva- 
tion to the general height of the whole stupendous 
ridge. The summits are here also covered with per- 
petual snows, whence the whole chain is called by 
the Indians Pseu Muhuisau^ or Snowy Mountain 
Gentle eminences, and pleasant vallies encom- 
passed with high hills, are dispersed along the. 
foot of the Cordillera, but the principal ridge 
rises, in general, abrupt and steep, with frequent 
and frightful precipices. The road across the 
mountains near Mendoza, though both difficult 
and dangerous, is not so much so, as those over 
the Peruvian mountains, and it seldom requires 
more than one day^s journey for the ascent, and 
another for the descent. The hollows are never 

k 2 



132 



Mountains. 



without snow even during the summer, and in the 
winter there is great danger of being frozen to 
death* Many travellers have lost their lives by 
attempting to pass them before the snows were 
sufficiently melted. Many brooks and torrents 
are, as it were, imprisoned between high and per- 
pendicular banks, and roar and foam in unfathom- 
able and dark abysses, till they break out and ex- 
tend over the plains. Near Mendoza there is a 
remarkable rock-bridge, an immense natural arch 
being thrown over the current of an impetuous 
torrent. The mountains produce many large and 
lofty pine-trees ; and the vales at their foot, are 
fertile in corn and fruit. 

The mountains of Cordova, Yacanto, and 
Achala, are secondary ridges, that branch off from 
the Cordillera, whence likewise one is sent off in 
the latitude of the great Desaguadero, which, under 
the Indian appellation of Casuhati, signifying high 
mountain, runs nearly across to the Atlantic. 
These southern mountains are nearly covered with 
thick, and almost impenetrable, woods, and are 
very little known. 

What, however, most attracts the attention in 
the Cordilleras, is the mineral treasure contained 
in their bowels. The incalculable riches in gold 
and silver which they produce, surpass the con- 
ception of the most insatiable cupidity. They 
were the magnets that attracted thither the ad- 
venturers of the sixteenth century; these soon 
converted the golden age of Peru into an iron 



Mines. 



133 



one ; and the sword of oppression was triumphantly 
swayed over the vanquished Indians, whose gold 
became the prey of their conquerors. It is the 
mines that attract settlers and inhabitants in the 
sterile, and scarcely habitable districts where they 
are found to abound the most : and it is the mines 
that have been, and are, the cause of that cruel 
bondage and oppression in which the natives are 
held by the Spaniards. 

Besides gold and silver, mercury, copper, lead, 
iron, and platina are found in the Cordillera. All 
are comparatively neglected, however, by the Spa- 
niards, for the gold and silver-mines, except those 
which yield mercury, on account of the use of quick- 
silver in the separation of the precious metals from 
their ores. Copper used to be extracted and worked 
by the ancient Peruvians ; and they had a method of 
hardening it, so as to render it useful in lieu of 
iron tools. Copper axes and other utensils of 
this description have been found amongst the 
ruins of their palaces, and in their guacas or 
tombs. The incurious or haughty spirit of the 
conquerors neglected or disdained to enquire into 
the secret by which this purpose was effected. 
The art is now lost*, but it is no improbable con* 

* Of the supine and incurious disposition of the Spanish colon~ 
ists, the following is a remarkable instance : — Various figures of 
animals and insects, of massy gold, the work of the ancient Peru- 
vians, had been preserved in the treasury of Quito till the year 1 740; 
when, in order to obtain supplies for raising the siege of Carthagena, 

K 3 



134 



Mountains. 



jecture that some combination of platina with the 
copper may have given it the requisite hardness 
and durability, and have preserved it from ever 
rusting or corroding, which is one of the qualities 
of the Peruvian composition. Platina is a metal 
that is now well known, though extremely scarce. 
It was first made known in Europe, in 1748, by 
De Ulloa j though an English metallurgist, Wood, 
brought over, in the year after, from Jamaica, 
several specimens of it, which he had received 
nine years before from Carthagena, and on which 
he had made experiments before any other person. 
It is generally found blended with gold, with iron, 
and with magnetic sand. From these it is easily 
separated by proper chymical processes. It has 
nearly the same specific weight with gold, is mal- 
leable and ductile, though not in the same degree. 
Its precipitate may be made to assume an infinite 
variety of colours, and M. de Milly, in making ex- 
periments upon it, produced an entire painting, m 
~ which scarcely any colours were employed but 
such as were produced from platina. It is not 
dissoluble by any simple acid ; it does not tarnish 
in the air, or ever rust : to the indestructibility of 
gold it unites a hardness almost equal to iron, and 
a much greater degree of infusibility. 

Gold and silver were so plentiful in Peru, in 

then attacked by the English, they were melted down, whilst not 
one Spaniard could be found in Peru, that would purchase a 
single article at its weight. 



Mines and minerals. 



135 



the sixteenth century, that the annual registered 
expectations to Spain for twenty-five years suc- 
cessively are stated to have amounted to thirteen 
millions of pieces of eight, besides what had passed 
without account. Gold is found in greater or 
lesser quantities in every part of Peru, in the 
higher parts of Tucnman, and all over Chili. It 
is either worked in mines, gathered from the sands, 
or collected from the streams. Masses or lumps 
of virgin or pure gold often occur in the mines ; 
but marcassite is the form in which it more gene- 
rally appears there. There is, however, ten times 
more gold found in grains in the beds of rivulets 
than in any other way. 

Marcassite of gold is in little balls or nodules, 
about the size of walnuts, nearly round, heavy, 
and of a brown colour without. The metallic 
stones that contain gold, usually also contain 
some other mineral matter ; antimony, vitriol, 
sulphur, copper, platina, or silver, and particularly 
the last. 

The method used in South America for the se- 
paration of the gold, is first to break the metallic 
stone pretty small with iron mallets; after which 
it is carried to the mills, where it is ground into 
a very fine powder, and then passed through 
several wire sieves, one after another, the last 
being the finest. The powder is then laid in 
wooden troughs with quicksilver and water: it is 
kneaded, and left to saturate in the air and sun 
for forty-eight hours. The water is then poured 

K 4 



136 



Mines 



©rT, and the recrementitious earth is readily sepa- 
rated, leaving the gold and quicksilver amalga- 
mated. The quicksilver is then evaporated by 
distillation, and the gold is fused in crucibles, 
and cast into plates or ingots. 

But the process for separating and refining both 
gold and silver, is conducted throughout the 
Spanish settlements in an ignorant and slovenly 
manner. Scarcely two-thirds of the metal is pro- 
cured that is contained in the ore, and twice or 
three times the quantity of quicksilver requisite is 
wasted. Nor does it appear, that the attempts 
lately made to introduce, through the means of 
scientific German mineralogists, a more perfect 
process, have been successful. Frustrated and 
counteracted by the prejudices of some, by the 
sinister motives of others, and by the supineness 
and ignorance of all of the directors or managers of 
the Royal mines, their endeavours have been 
fruitless, and their expeditions unavailing. 

There are two kinds of silver-mines ; the one 
where silver is found scattered about in smaller or 
greater quantities, and more or less combined with 
other substances ; and the other v/here it runs in 
veins, more or less pure, between the rocks. When 
the silver has been extracted from the ore, it first 
appears in porous lumps of pure silver that are 
left after the exhalation of the quicksilver, and are 
called pinms by the Spaniards. As silver in this 
state has not paid the royal duty, it is liable to, 



and metallurgy. 137 

seizure when found any where, but in the transit 
from the mines to the mint. 

The tools of the Indian miners are very badly 
contrived and unwieldy. The hammer, which is> 
a square piece of lead of twenty pounds weight, 
exhausts their strength ; the iron a foot and a half 
long is very incommodious, and can not, in some 
narrow places, be made use of. The thick tallow 
candles, wound round with wool, which are used 
in the mines, tend to add to the vitiation of the 
air, already too noxious in these subterranean 
abodes. 

The miners break the stones in which the me- 
tal is found in large pieces, which are stamped in 
the ingenios reales or royal engines, which consist 
of hammers, lifted up and down by a wheel. 
These hammers weigh about two hundred pounds, 
and fall with sufficient violence to reduce the 
hardest stones to powder; though to render them 
more friable, they are sometimes roasted or cal- 
cined in an oven. The powder is sifted through 
iron or copper sieves, the finest is taken away and 
the rest is returned to the mil]. 

In the little mines, mills with grindstones are 
used instead of the ingenios ; and the ore is ground 
with water, which makes a liquid mud that runs 
into a receiver. If ground dry, it must be after- 
wards wetted and well kneaded with the feet, for 
a considerable time. The mud is disposed upon 
a floor, in square parcels about a foot thick, each 
of them containing half a caxon or chest, which is 



!3S 



Mines, 



twenty-five quintals or hundred weight of ore, 
and these are called cuerpos or bodies. On each 
of these, about two hundred weight of sea-salt is 
thrown, which is moulded and incorporated with 
the earth for two or three days. After this the 
proportion of quicksilver which they judge ne- 
cessary is added to the mass. An Indian is em- 
ployed to mould one of these cuerpos eight times 
a day, that the mercury may amalgamate with 
the silver, to accelerate which they frequently 
mix lime with it; and sometimes they also strew 
over it some pulverized lead or tin-ore. In cold 
weather the operation goes on very slowly ; so 
that they are often obliged at Potosi and Lipes to 
mould the ore during a month or six weeks ; but 
in warmer districts the amalgamation is com-? 
pleted in eight or ten days. 

When the silver is supposed to be all collected, 
the ore is carried to a bason, into which a stream 
of water runs, to wash it, and an Indian stirs it 
with his feet to dissolve it, and loosen the metal 
from the earth. From the first it passes into a 
second, and thence into a third bason, in each of 
which the operation is repeated. When all has 
been washed and the water runs clear, the mer- 
cury incorporated with the silver, which is called 
in that state lapella^ is found at the bottom of the 
basons, which are lined with leather. This is put 
in a woollen bag, and hung up for the quicksilver 
to drain through ; it is then beat with flat pieces 
of wood, and pressed by a weight laid upon it: 



Mines. 



139 



when as much of the quicksilver as can be got out 
by this means is expelled, they put the paste into 
a mould of wood in the form of an octagon pyramid 
cut short, at the bottom of which is a copper plate 
full of little holes ; being stirred and pressed in 
this mould, the paste becomes stiff and consistent ; 
the wood-work is then taken away, and the in- 
cipient pinna is placed with its copper base on a 
kind of trivet over a great earthen vessel full of 
water. It is covered with an earthen cap upon 
which lighted coals are put ; and the fire is fed 
for some hours, that the quicksilver may evaporate 
in smoke. The smoke, however, having no pas- 
sage out, circulates in the hollow between the 
mass and the cap, till, coming down to the water, 
it condenses into quicksilver again. 

There now remains a spongy lump of contiguous 
grains of silver, very light and crumbling, which 
is called pinna, and is, as before said, a contraband 
commodity, as all the silver is obliged to be car- 
ried to the royal receipt, or mint, in order to pay 
the duties to the king. 

The pinnas are cast into ingots, on which the 
arms of the crown are stamped, as also those of 
the place where they are cast, with their weight 
and assay. It is always certain that the ingots 
which have paid the fifth have no fraud in them ; 
but it is not always so with the pinnas, for the per- 
sons who make them frequently convey iron, sand, 
and other things into the middle of them, in order 



140 



Mines. 



to increase the weight. To detect this they should 
be opened, and made red hot, for, if falsified, the 
fire will either turn it black or yellow, or melt it 
easily. 

The tediousness and waste of the process here 
described, sufficientry justifies the harshness of 
the censures bestowed upon the metallurgy of the 
Spaniards in America by Helms; and give proba- 
bility to the calculation that one third of the silver 
is completely lost, and twice the time and expense 
incurred which a more enlightened mode would 
complete the operation in. 

The ore, or, to speak in the language of the 
country, the mineral, from which the silver is ex- 
tracted, is of various natures, consistencies, and 
colours. In the mines of Lipes and Potosi it iaf 
generally white and grey, mixed with red or 
blueish spots, which is called plata blancha, or 
white silver ; in this ore, when broken, there gene- 
rally appears some small grains of pure silver, and 
thin branches or veins running along the layers of 
the stone. Some ores, on the contrary, are as 
black as the dross of iron, and are called negritlos; 
but sometimes it is black with lead, on which ac- 
count it is called plomo ronco, or coarse lead : the 
silver here appears when scratched, and is gene- 
rally procured at the least charge ; because, instead 
of moulding it with quicksilver, it is melted in 
furnaces, where the fire evaporates the lead, and 
leaves the silver pure and clean. The negrillos 



Mines, 



141 



are esteemed amongst the richest ores, and yield 
from fifty to sixty marks of silver per caxon. 

There is another sort of ore, rich, like the last, 
and affording the finest silver ; but it turns red if 
wetted and rubbed against iron, for which reason 
it is called rosicler, or the ruddiness of the morning. 
There is some that glitters like talc, but it yields 
little silver, and is called zorocjte; it is, however, 
soft, and the metal easily extracted from it. There 
is some green, not much harder than the last, and 
called cobrisso, or copperish ; it is difficult to 
manage, on account of the copper it contains. 
But the most scarce and valuable ore is that which 
appears in entangled threads of pure silver, so fine 
that it is called arana, from its resemblance to 
the web of a spider. 

The mineral veins, of whatever kind, are gene- 
rally richer in the middle than towards the edges ; 
and when two veins cross one another, the place 
where they meet is always rich. It has also been 
observed, that those which lie north and south 
are richer than such as lie in any other direction* 
If the mines sink downwards, they are liable to 
be flooded, and many of the richest have been 
overflowed and entirely lost ; for neither the spirit, 
the capital, or the industry of the proprietors have 
been found adequate to overcome this calamity 
when it occurs, which, in the shelving declivities 
of the mountains, and amidst their plenitude of 
waters, is very frequently the case. 



I4§ 



Mines. 



A great variation takes place in the produce 
and value of mines, independent of any accidents 
to them. Some are extremely rich at first, but as 
speedily exhausted ; a remarkable instance of 
which is that which was discovered in 1703, at 
Ucuntaya, which yielded at first as much as two 
thousand five hundred marks, of eight ounces each* 
out of every caxon,* being nearly one-fifth part 
of the ore ; but this rich crust was soon exhausted, 
and the mine below it was found to be less pro-* 
ductive than the average of others. Exhausted 
mines, however, have, on being worked again, after 
considerable intervals, been found to be recruited % 
and the generation of minerals in the earth has 
been verified by experience at Potosi, where 
several mines having fallen in, and buried the 
workmen and their tools, their bones and some 
pieces of wood have been afterwards discovered 
with veins of silver actually running through 
them. 

The mines belong to the person who first dis- 
covers them, who immediately presents a petition 
to the government to have such a piece of ground * 
which is granted of course. A spot, eighty 
Spanish yards in length and forty in breadth, is 
then measured for the discoverer, who does wdiat 
he pleases with it. The same quantity is then 
measured for the king, and sold to the best pur* 



* The caxon contains about fifty hundred weight. 



Mines, 



143 



chaser. It is not always the discoverers who work 
the mines, but frequently others, who undertake 
the business, bargain with them for particular 
spots ; and many of the proprietors of the mines 
find more account in letting out their ground, 
than in working it themselves. 

The richest and most celebrated mines of South 
America are found in the province of Los Charcas, 
within the jurisdiction of the viceroyalty of Buenos 
Ayres, and with them it will be proper to com- 
mence in giving a description of such mines as 
are particularly worthy of notice. Previously to 
this, however, it will not be uninteresting to view, 
in the following table, presented to the public by 
Helms, a specification of the various mines that 
are at present in a state of exploration in the dif- 
ferent districts of the viceroyalty, as registered in 
the chancery ; viz.— 



144 Mines. 



DISTRICTS. 




MINES 


OP 






Q 






H 


J? 






<* 


o 
m 


3 


p 




ex. 


CD 
• 








lucuman - - - 


2 


1 
1 


9 






1\ IT 1 

lVlendoza - 




J 








Atacama - - 




9 


1 




1 


inn 

varanges - 






1 

1 






Lipes - - - - 


2 


1 


1 




1 


Jrorco - - - - 


1 




1 

1 




— 






i 

• i 




_ 




racages or Berenguela 




1 




- 




Cnucmto - - - 




2 




1 


— 






1 








Lampa - 




9 








Cnicas y larija - - 


4 


5 




-—— 


1 


Lochabamba - - 


1 










Zicazica - - - - 


2 






1 




Lavicaja - - - 


4 








1 


Omascuyo - - 


4 


— . 


— 


' 




Avangaro - 


3 




* 






Carabaya - 


2 


1 








Chayanza - 


2 


3 


1 


1 


1 


Misque - - - - 




1 












1 




1 


1 


Montevideo - - - 


1 










Total 


30 


27 


7 


2 


7 



Porco, Potosi. 



145 



It was from the mines of Porco, that the Incas 
principally drew the silver which embellished 
their palaces, and added splendour to their 
temples ; and it was these and those in the vici- 
nity of La Plata that the Spaniards first explored. 
Those of Porco were very rich, and it is stated 
that a miner once found a lump of metal, which 
was estimated to be worth three millions of pias- 
tres. Pizarro founded the city of La Plata in the 
year 1539, and its mines, until the casual dis- 
covery of those of Potosi, were considered as the 
most productive, and the most deserving of atten- 
tion. But, both these, and those of Porco, have 
fallen into much disrepute ; eclipsed by the im- 
mense riches discovered in the mineral mountain 
of Potosi, they have become of minor conse- 
quence, have been neglected, and in part overflown. 

The discovery of the famous silver-mine of 
Potosi, was the effect of accident. An Indian 
named Hualpa, in the year 1545, pursuing some 
mountain-goats, and climbing up the rocks, laid 
hold of a small shrub to support himself, the roots 
of which gave way, and laid open to his view a 
mass of pure silver, whilst he found some lumps 
of the same metal amongst the clods that adhered 
to the root. For a considerable time Hualpa kept 
his good fortune to himself, and applied to his 
hidden treasure occasionally, and when his wants 
or his inclination prompted him. The change 
that occurred in his fortune, however, became ap- 
parent to one of his friends, named Guanca, ta 

L 



146 



Mines, 



whose pressing entreaties he yielded, and to whom 
he discovered his secret. For some time they 
enjoyed the benefits of the mine in partnerships 
but Hualpa refusing to inform his friend the me- 
thod he pursued to purify the metal, Guanca re- 
vealed the secret to his master, a Spaniard, named 
Yillaroel, who lived at Porco. On receiving this 
information, the mine was worked without delay, 
and to an immense advantage. 

This first mine was Called the Discoverer, as 
having been the occasion of discoverins: other 
sources of riches in the bowels of the mountain ; 
for in a few days, another was found equally rich, 
and called the Tin-mine; another, surpassing all 
\he rest, is distinguished by the name of Rica, 
and, with a fourth, called the Mendieta, constitute 
the principal mines of Potosi ; but there are a 
great number of smaller ones crossing the moun- 
tain on all sides. The principal veins, however, 
lie on the north side of the mountain, and in a 
direction fr,om north to south. The mountain is 
of a conical shape, and almost eighteen miles in 
circumference at the base. It is chiefly composed 
of a yellow argillaceous slate, full of veins of fer- 
ruginous quartz. The soil is naturally dry, cold, 
and barren. The mines of Potosi are rendered the 
more valuable, as the miners are less obstructed by 
water in carrying on their works, than they gene- 
rally are in other mines, though some of them are 
here sunk upwards of two hundred fathoms deep 
Such large quantities of silver-ore have beei 



Potosi. 



147 



drawn from the mountain, that it is now entirely 
undermined ; and the rock has been opened at 
the bottom, and galleries dug horizontally to 
meet the veins of silver. These vaults which 
penetrate into the bowels of the mountain are 
called sacabouas ; they are about eight feet broad 
and six feet high. The miners labour in these 
subterraneous passages deprived of the light and 
( heat of the sun ; and the air in them is so cold and 
unwholesome, that nausea is immediately felt 
upon entering them. They work alternately 
night and day, always by candle-light, and en- 
tirely naked, to prevent them from concealing or 
embezzling any part of the treasure*. 

From experiments made from upwards of three 
hundred specimens of the rude ores of Potosi, they 
were found to contain on an average, from six to 

* In the royal mines, compulsory measures are resorted to, and. 
the Indians are forced to work in them by metas, or personal ser- 
vice ; respectively in proportion to the number by whom the tribute 
is paid, they are compelled to repair, from different provinces, to the* 
mines of Huancavelica and Potosi. If they fail in punctual attend- 
ance, a fine of thirty piastres, named by the Indians faltrigueras, is 
imposed on them. Every Spaniard, when the mines were first 
worked by them, had several Indians assigned to him for his per- 
sonal work in them ; but the oppression and labour they endured 
soon reduced the numbers of these wretched servitors so much, that 
when a royal ordinance was deemed necessary to relieve them, few 
remained alive to avail of the partial redress. The mines are yet 
chiefly worked by Indians, but they are now regularly paid, and 
have necessaries allowed them under the inspection of government- 
agents. 

L 2 



lis 



Mines. 



eight marks of silver in every caxon : but some 
solid silver-ore, of a greyish brown east, yielded 
twenty marks of silver per caxon. Altogether, 
there are about three hundred mines or pits in the 
mountain that are worked ; but all of them irregu- 
larly, and few of them to a greater depth than 
seventy yards. A main conduit for carrying off 
the water, which was begun in 1779, is carried on 
for about two miles; but has not a proper slope 
to answer the purpose effectually in many of the 
pits. It intersects eight lodes or veins which are 
yet unworked, running in a direction nearly from 
north to south ; the best of them is galena, about 
two feet deep, and is said to yield eight marks of 
silver per caxon. 

Acosta relates that, during the first forty years 
in which the mines of Potosi were wrought, they 
produced the enormous sum of one hundred and 
two thousand millions of pieces of eight: but this 
calculation must be grossly exaggerated. It ap- 
peared, however, by the public accounts, that be- 
fore the year 1638, the. king's fifth of the silver 
produced and registered from the mines of Potosi, 
had amounted to 395*619,000 dollars, which, in 
ninety-three years, the time elapsed since they 
had been discovered, makes 41,255,043 for the 
average produce registered, per annum, exclusive 
of the great quantities that must have been con- 
veyed away clandestinely ai.d without paying the 
royal duty, and the silver manufactured into uten- 
sils and ornaments for the churches and convents. 



Potosi. 1 49 

which consists of a large quantity, all the reli- 
gious establishments in the country, and particu- 
larly in the city of Potosi, being extremely rich in 
plate. But the produce of these mines, either from 
exhaustion or defective management, has fallen 
off in an amazing degree; the progressive diminu- 
tion appears from the following calculations of the 
amount of the royal duties : 

From 1o4v5 to 1564, being the space of 20 years, 
they amounted, on an average, to 6,7*50,000 
piastres per annum ; 

Trom 1564 to 1585, 21 years, to 2,S 12,398 piastres 
per annum; 

From 1585 to 1624, 30 years, to 2,24S,SS8 piastres 
per annum ; 

From 1624 to 1633, 9 years, to 1,124,000 piastres 
per annum ; 

and in the year 1763, they were so much lessened 
as to yield only 253,090 piastres. But it is not 
easy to calculate from these data the actual quan- 
tity of silver produced in the mines; for the du- 
ties, though passing generally under the denomi- 
nation of the king's fifth, have varied considerably 
at different periods, nor have they been at all 
times uniform in every part of Spanish America. 
The duty at first levied, was one entire fifth ; but 
it was afterwards, in some cases, reduced to one- 
tenth, and in others to one-twentieth. The duties 
actually paid upon the silver when melted and re- 
fined at the royal mint, are 

L 3 



Mines. — Potosi, 



One half per cent cobos, or old established duty 

to the king ; 
Six per cent real diesmo, or the king^ tenth ; 
Six per cent derechos de fundicion, to defray the 

expense of melting and refining ; 
One real de plata on every mark of silver, for the 

salaries, &c. of the royal tribunal of mines, 

equal to 1 A per cent ; 

In all fourteen and one-sixteenth per cent. As 
soon as the silver is melted, stamped, and proved, 
eight piastres, five reals, and thirteen maravedis 
de plata*, are paid by the mint for each mark of 
eight ounces. Gold pays only four per cent real 
diesmo, which with the expense of melting, &c. 
makes llrV per cent. The royal treasury allows 
sixteen piastres per ounce for it, if of the fineness 
of twenty-two carats, which is the general stand- 
ard of the gold of Peru. 

Besides the uncertainty arising from the fluc- 
tuations in the duties, the amounts of them are 
often confounded with other objects in the cus- 
tom-house accounts, such as the duties on quick- 
silver, &c. and they do not therefore afford any 
just criteria, by which to form a judgement on the 

* The piastre, or peso de plata, also called peso fuerte, hard 
dollar, is the coin in which the accounts are generally kept in the 
Spanish colonies ; but in Spain, an imaginary money, called peso 
de vellon, paper dollar, obtains in their accounts, which is worth 
about 3s. 7d. sterling ; the value of the peso fuerte is well known, 
and unless otherwise expressed, it is always this which is meant in 
this work by the piastre. 



Li'])e$i Puno. \5l 

subject. The amount, however, of the gold and 
silver, coined at Potosi in the year 1790, is ascer- 
tained to have been 299,846 piastres in gold; and 
2,983,176 piastres in silver. 

The want of timber for the construction of ma- 
chinery*, and the necessity of bringing all the ne- 
cessaries of life from other parts to this sterile dis- 
trict, are great impediments to a spirited explora- 
tion of the mines of Potosi ; but it is supposed, 
that with a moderate degree of skill and diligence, 
their produce might, at least, be the quintuple of 
what it is under the ignorant and defective ma- 
nagement of the Spaniards. 

The silver-mines of Lipes are very abundant ; 
the richest, however, which is called the table of 
silver, has been inundated and abandoned. That 
of St. Christopher de Acochacla, was formerly one 
of the most famous in all Peru, the metal being in 
some parts cut out with a chisel ; but it has now 
greatly declined. Many gold-mines were formerly 
also worked here ; they were long forsaken ; but 
two are now explored with some advantage, also 
one of copper, the strata of w r hich are intermixed 
with gold, silver, iron, and loadstone. 

In Puno, there are several gold-mines, which are 

* Brushwood and charcoal for fuel must be brought from a 
distance of, from thirty to sixty miles ; and large timber is con- 
veyed even from Tucuman, whence it must be dragged by im- 
mense manual labour across the mountains. A piece of timber, 
sixteen inches square and thirty-four feet in length, cost at Potosi, 
the value of two hundred pounds sterling. 

L 4 



1.52 



Mines. 



gone to decay, through the negligence and inabi- 
lity of the inhabitants. At Choroma and Estarca, 
there are gold and silver-mines ; and there are se- 
veral good mines in the district denominated Gran 
C/wcai/Oy which are very little wrought on account 
of the want of Spanish inhabitants. Esmoraca 
and Cerrillos, which are in the department of 
Chicas, yield an abundance of silver, and a small 
proportion of gold of a very fine quality. 

It was not far from the tow r n of Puno that, in 
the year 1660, Joseph Salcedo, discovered the 
mine of Layacota. It proved a most abundant 
one, and the metal was chiselled out of it. The 
liberal mind of Salcedo, far from being cramped 
by his good fortune, as is too often the case with 
those who seek after the riches that are buried in 
the bowels of the earth, occasioned him to feel de- 
light in participating with others the benefit 
which fortune had lavished on him ; and he gave 
permission to all the adventurers who arrived from 
Old Spain to seek their fortunes in the new 
world,, to work for several days in his mine for 
their own benefit, without weighing or limiting 
the extent of his noble gift. His unexampled ge- 
nerosity drew around him a number of needy as 
well as of desperate adventurers ; their cupidity 
drove them into quarrels; arms were resorted to, 
and a disturbance excited ; Salcedo, who had 
done all in his power to quell their sanguinary 
tumults, was imprisoned, and condemned to die, 
as the author of the riot. Whilst he was in con- 



Layacofa^ Oruro. 153 

finement, the waters rushed into his mine and de- 
stroyed the works and with them all hopes of 
gain. This event was long looked at, as a divine 
punishment of the crime committed by govern- 
ment in the execution of such a man. In 1740, 
however, Diego de Baena, associated himself with 
some other men of an equally enterprising dispo- 
sition, to drain off the flood whicfh had drowned 
so large a treasure. In 17o4, their works were so 
far advanced, that the mine was partially opened 
afresh ; and it has since continued to be worked, 
though not so productively as anterior to the ca- 
tastrophe of Salcedo. 

Oruro has many gold and silver-mines, the for- 
mer of which, though known from the time of the 
Incas, have seldom since been worked; but those 
of silver yielded great riches to the inhabitants. 
About the beginning of last century, several of 
them were overflowed, and all the efforts used to 
drain them proved unsuccessful. In the moun- 
tains of Popo, twelve leagues from the town, 
however, some considerable siiver-mines were 
wrought, till the year 1779, when, in an exten- 
sive insurrection of the Christian Indians of La 
Plata and Peru, the greatest part of the inhabit- 
ants of Oruro were destroyed, and those who 
escaped mostly emigrated to Europe. Hence the 
mines are now in a state of decay and neglect 
from the want of pecuniary resources. Intelligent 
miners might derive great profit from them ; for 
one active individual, by the imperfect old me- 



154 Mines. — Sicasica, La Paz 9 

thod of amalgamation, obtained in 1796', a clear 
weekly gain of about eighty pounds sterling from 
the residuum, formerly thrown away and found 
in the abandoned mines. 

Sicasica has two gold-mines, and some silver 
ones, but the latter are neither numerous nor 
rich. The former are reckoned very productive; 
they belong to Indian natives. 

The mountains extending from Sicasica to La Paz, 
and that lofty one, at the foot of whichthe latter city 
is built, abound in rich gold-ore ; and in the year 
1681, when a mass of the rock was detached by the 
effects of lightning, from the mountain of Illimani, 
lumps of pure gold, weighing from two to fifty lbs. 
were severed from the stone, and so large a quan- 
tity of gold was extracted from it, that it was sold 
in La Paz, at the rate of eight piastres per ounce. 
The great elevation of this mountain prevents it 
from being properly worked, yet a quantity of 
gold is regularly extracted from it; and in the 
sand washed down by the rains, pieces of gold are 
found, some of which weigh an ounce. In the 
year 1730, an Indian, washing his feet in the river, 
found a lump of gold of so large a size that the 
Marquis de Castel Fuerte gave twelve thousand 
pieces of eight for it, and sent it to Spain as a pre- 
sent worthy the curiosity of his sovereign. 

In Ckucuito, the ores obtained from a soft por- 
phyritic ridge, extending about eighteen miles, are 
very rich, yielding about ten marks of silver per 



Chucuito, Pasco. 



155 



hundred weight. There are likewise some rich 
veins of gold, but they are not worked. 

The mines of Pasco are, or may be made, very 
productive. This mineral territory is properly 
called the mountain of St. Stephen de Lauricocha. 
The discovery of these mines took place accidents 
ally about the year 1630. An Indian named 
Huari-Capcha, led his flock to pasture on the 
heights, and being obliged to pass the night in 
that situation sought shelter behind a crag. He 
kindled a large fire, and was surprised to find at 
break of day, amongst the ashes, several, grains of 
melted silver. Contrary to the general custom of 
the Indians, who, dreading the labour of the mines, 
conceal them as much as possible from the Spa- 
niards, he communicated this intelligence to Don 
Juan de Ugarte, a rich proprietor who resided in 
the neighbourhood, and who proceeded imme- 
diately to explore the heights. On and near the 
spot where the fire had been kindled, he found 
passages leading to several mines, which were 
afterwards wrought with the greatest success. 
The fame of the mines of Ugarte soon drew a con- 
siderable population to the wild and dreary heaths 
around them ; and in a little time a Spanish set- 
tlement was formed, where before not a hut was 
to be seen to afford shelter to a solitary Indian. In 
1 669, a royal mint was established in the city of 
Pasco, about two leagues from the mountain of 
Lauricocha. 

With what success these mines were wrought, 



lo6 Mines of 

after the abundant stores of wealth they yielded 
in the first instance, has not been ascertained ; 
but it is certain that this mineral territory was at 
length exposed to the calamity which has at- 
tended so many of the others : the greatest part 
of the mines were overflowed, and rendered un- 
serviceable. Don Martin de Retuerto, who be- 
came the proprietor of the mine after Ugarte, 
made an aperture at the base of the mountain, and 
was the first to ascertain the true direction of the 
veins of metal. He was extremely successful at 
the commencement, but was soon obliged to 
abandon his enterprize, which the irruption of 
the waters put a termination to. In 175S, the 
mine was purchased of the heirs of Retuerto, by 
Don Joseph de Maiz y Areas, who had another 
opening made near the same spot. To effect this 
was the work of two years, and it answered so 
well, that the mine afforded annually from sixty 
to eighty thousand marks of silver. By the help 
of engines, the successive invasions of the water 
were overcome, until the decease of this very jn«- 
telligent miner, when, through the neglect of his 
executors, the mine was, as well as those adjacent 
to it, completely filled with water. 

The mines of Santa Rosa and Caya> were in the 
same state ; and the miners were obliged to scrape 
together the little ore they could find at the ori- 
fices of the mines, but had the mortification to 
discover that it did not repay the trouble and ex- 
pense of refining. Those who were interested 



Lauricocha and Santa Rosa. 



157 



now associated together, and agreed to make an 
opening in the lower part of the mineral rock of 
Santa Rosa. The execution of this plan was con- 
fided to Don Felix de Ijurra, a very skilful miner, 
whose zeal, probity, and experience had already 
been evinced in several undertakings of a similar 
kind. Amidst the difficulties which nature op- 
posed at every step, and what was worse, having 
to supply, from his own pocket, the deficiencies of 
many of the subscribers, he completed his under- 
taking, drained off the water which had found its 
way into the mines of Santa Rosa; and, in a man- 
ner, gave new life to the whole of the district. 
The wise provisions of Don Juan de Galvez, lieu- 
tenant-governor of these provinces, in 1792, have 
perfected this useful task, and rendered these 
mines permanently productive. 

With a view to drain off the water, a new aper- 
ture has recently been made in the inferior part of 
the mine of Lauricocha. The expectations of the 
proprietors are already in a great measure realized. 
The ores of this very productive mine, are cine- 
reous, and of a colour inclining to blue. They 
are considered amongst the richest of Peru. 

The mountainous and mineral territory of Pas- 
co, being taken in its whole extent, consists of the 
above-mentioned mines of Santa Rosa and Lauri- 
cocha, together with those of Yanacancha, Cava, 
Cheupimarca and Pariajllca. That of Cheupi- 
marca, though replete with- rich ores, has been 
but little worked, in consequence of the water 



158 Mines of Coqitijilca*, Cochabamba, 

having gained on it at the commencement. The 
ores extracted from these mines are of a yellow 
colour, with reddish spots, and commonly yield 
from six to twelve marks per caxon. The ridge, 
which goes by the appellation of the Royal Man- 
tle, from the riches it contains, is about five miles 
across, at its base. In the year 1789, from fifteen 
to sixteen thousand caxons of ore were extracted, 
and about one hundred and twenty thousand 
marks of silver refined in the royal foundery of 
Pasco. 

The silver, however, from these mines, which 
are situated on the verge of the province of Los 
Charcas, of which Santa Rosa is the boundary, goes 
to be coined at Lima ; but as they are so situated, 
and the historical description here given being 
equally applicable to a number of the mines of 
this country, as to the original richness, subse- 
quent inundations and neglect, and in some parts 
also as to the restoration of them ; the ample de- 
tail that has been entered into respecting them 
will not be found irrelevant. 

At Colquijika, a short distance from Pasco, 
mines of silver have recently been discovered ; 
the ores of which, of the kind called negrillos, 
though blended with a small proportion of copper, 
are reported to be so rich as to yield from fifty to 
sixty marks of silver per caxon. 

Much gold was formerly derived from the dis- 
trict of Cochabamba^ and very lucrative veins are 



Chayanta, and Caranges. 159 

still met with, one of which is worked to advan- 
tage. In some spots traces of silver-mines occur. 

Chayanta,o\ % Chaycmza, is famous for its gold and 
silver-mines, the former are mostly discontinued, 
though many of the ancient subterraneous pas- 
sages still remain open. In the sands of the river 
that water this district, called Rio Grande, a con- 
siderable quantity of gold in dust and in grains is 
found. The silver-mines are explored to great 
advantage. Cdpper, lead, and tin-mines are also 
worked here. 

Caranges is rich in silver-mines, which are con- 
stantly worked, and without interruption from 
inundations. Amongst these, that of Turco is 
very remarkable for its ore, in which the fibres of 
the silver form an admirable in tertext lire with the 
stone in which they are contained. Mines of 
this kind are generally the richest. Besides this, 
there are others in this jurisdiction, which if not 
richer are equally remarkable, and which are found 
in the barren sandy deserts extending towards the 
coast of the South-sea. By digging in the sands, 
detached lumps of silver are found, unmixed with 
any ore to stone. They are called papas or yams, 
being taken out of the ground in the same man- 
ner as that root. It is difficult to account for the 
formation of these masses of silver in a barren and 
moveable sand, remote from any ore or mine. 
The most probable cause seems to be the fusion 
of the metal, by those subterraneous fires, which 
are in constant activity in this quarter of the 



. 1 60 M Ines . — Pacages; 

globe, feeding the numerous volcanoes of th& 
Andes, and occasioning the frequent and dreadful 
earthquakes that ravage the coasts of Peru and 
Chili. The appearance of these lumps confirms 
this hypothesis, as the silver forms a mass in the' 
middle encrusted with a scoria, such as would be 
seen in metals melted and suffered to cool without 
being separated from the dross. The sizes and 
figures of these papas vary considerably; some 
weigh about two marks, or sixteen ounces, and 
others much more. Ulloa saw two of them at 
Lima, one weighing sixty and the other one hun- 
dred and fifty marks ; but these w^ere the largest 
ever seen. 

The jurisdiction of Pacages abounds also in. 
silver-mines, though not many are worked. Un- 
doubted signs occur of many mines having been 
explored here in the time of the Incas. The 
mountains of Santa Juana, Tampaya, and others, 
have formerly yielded immense treasures ; but the 
principal mine is the famous one of Berenguela. 
Here are also mines of ta'c, called jaspos blancts 
de - Berenguela^ which is beautifully transpa- 
rent, and is used in great part of Peru for the 
windows both of churches and houses. In these 
mountains are also several mines that yield gems: 
particularly one of emeralds,* the quality of 

* Emeralds were abundant amongst the riches of the Incas, 
and many of an extracrdinary size were found by the Spaniards ; 
but a great number were destroyed, from the erroneous' idea that 
then prevailed, that if they were real gems they would stand the 



Lavicaja, Mojos, Misque. 161 

which has been much prized by the lapidaries of 
Europe ; but for some latent reasons this source 
of wealth has not lately been resorted to. Quarries 
of marble likewise abound here. 

Laricaxas, or Lavicaja^ abounds in gold-mines^ 
whose metal is of so fine a quality that its stand- 
ard is twenty-three carats and three grains. In 
this province is the celebrated mountain of Sun» 
chuli, in which, about the end of the seventeenth 
century, a gold-mine was discovered, remarkably 
rich, and of the above-mentioned standard ; but 
when in its highest state of prosperity, it was' 
unfortunately overflowed ; and although large 
sums were expended in endeavours to drain it ; 
all the labour and expense were unavailing, as 
the works were injudiciously conducted. 

Though there are a good many veins of gold- 
ore about thfe Indian town of Mqxos, or Mojos? 
few of them are worked. In the streams that 
run in the vicinity, particles of gold abound ; 
but most of it is lost, as the searchers collect onlv 
such as are of the size of a large pin^s head. 

Near the town of Misqae, is the only place 
where any mine is worked in the province of 

stroke of a hammer on an anvil. Notwithstanding the Peruvians 
tvere unacquainted with iron or steel, they were able to polish, 
' pierce, and fashion their emeralds and other gems with all the 
delicacy of European workmen. In their ancient tombs emeralds 
are found worked in spherical, cylindrical, conical, and other 
figures, with mathematical accuracy-. 

M 



162 



Mines. Mountains. 



Santa Cruz de la Sierra. This is of silver, and is 
not very abundant. 

In Atacama 9 which, though situated on the 
western side of the Cordillera, and reaching to 
the Pacific Ocean, is considered as a dependency 
or part of the province of Los Charcas, there are 
various mines, which produce some gold and 
silver, which used to be principally taken away in 
the contraband trade of the French, who fre^ 
quented the little and remote port of Cobija for 
that purpose. 

The mountainous parts of the province of Tu- 
cuman, that border upon that of Los Charcas, 
possess both gold and silver-mines, and some of 
copper, which might be rendered very productive; 
but, like many others, scarcely repay the expense 
of working, from the ignorance of the miners and 
their overseers. The common invention of a 
windlass is even unknown, and the ore is carried 
up ladders in sacks upon the shoulders of the 
slaves. 

In the province of Cuyo, near San Juan de la 
Frontera, there are rich silver-mines, but neglected. 
The copper brought from Mendoza is much 
esteemed ; and in that neighbourhood a silver- 
mine was discovered about 1740, which yielded 
a large quantity of ore. It is still worked, but it 
is not known with what success. Beside the pro- 
duce of these, the value of about four hundred 
thousand dollars is calculated to be brought by 



SoiL Climate. 



163 



contraband intercourse in gold and silver across 
the mountains from Chili, and, with the rest that 
is produced in Cuyo, finds its way to Buenos 
Ayres. 

A gold-mine was found in the mountains of 
Maldonado, near the mouth of the Plata, but it 
was abandoned almost as soon as worked, from its- 
insignificance. One, however, is said to be in 
activity in the district of Montevideo* 

Having thus minutely reviewed the rivers, the 
mountains, the plains, and the mineral treasures 
that abound in the extensive regions subjected to 
the viceroy of Buenos Ayres, it is necessary to 
give some account of the varieties of climate and 
of soil that are found in them. 

The summits of the Andes present the imposing 
spectacle of perpetual frost and never-melting 
snows, under the rays of a tropical and buring 
sun. Uninhabitable from the rigour of their 
atmosphere, inaccessible and uncultivable from 
their sterile, stony, and rugged nature, they in- 
fluence also the lesser eminences, their embosomed 
vales, and their adjacent plains ; and each district 
enjoys its winter or summer, not in proportion 
to its geographical climate, but according to its 
relative situation with respect to this stupendous 
ridge. 

Great part of the province of Los Charcas, and 
in particular that which is rich in mines, is equally 
barren in soil and inhospitable in climate. But 
many fruitful, genial, and temperate vallies inter- 

*i 2 



164* 



Climate 



vene ; if such may be called vallies as lie far above< 
the plains that extend beyond the mountains, and 
whose elevation exceeds that of the Alps and 
Pyrenees of Europe. Such is that of Tarija, 
which derives its name from Francisco Tarija, 
a man who, unlike the ferocious and mercenary 
conquerors who were his companions in arms 
under Pizarro and Almagro, penetrated with a 
.few followers to a retired vale of the Cordillera ; 
where, charmed by the mildness of the climate, 
the fertility of the soil, and the docility of its 
happy natives, he settled ; converted the Indians 
to Christianity; established a patriarchal authority 
over them ; and, 

The world forgetting, by the world forgot, 

he lived secluded, and died unknown ; till the 
subsequent extension of the Spaniards in Peru 
carried them, in the progress of years, into the 
sequestered abode, where the name of Tarija was 
held in reverence by the Indians, and had been 
bestowed by them upon their own territory. The 
serenity of the sky, the salubrious temperature of 
the air, the fecundity of the soil, and the abun- 
dance of limpid streams, of Tarija, are extolled 
in terms of admiration. Wheat, maize, cocoa, 
grapes, flax, and the herb of Paraguay, are 
reckoned amongst its most common productions ; 
and olives and sugar-canes are yielded in abun- 
dance in the vale of Bermejo. Yet, from the 
want of a sufficient incitement to industry, its 



and Soil, 



165 



inhabitants are stated to be indolent and listless. 
Extensive natural and nutritive pastures afford 
food to large herds of cattle and flocks of sheep ; 
and this appears to be the principal resource on 
which the inhabitants rely, who annually sell 
about ten thousand head of cattle to the neigh- 
bouring districts. 

Every variety of aspect, however, and every 
diversity of climate, from intense cold to excessive 
heat, occur in the interior or in the neighbour- 
hood, of the mountains ; and the productions 
both of the temperate and torrid zones all find 
soils and situations adapted to their various 
natures. 

Of the climate and soil of the plains of Gran 
Chaco and Tucuman, and of the fertile and 
pleasant borders of the Parana, the Uraguay, and 
their subsidiary streams, sufficient notice has al- 
ready been taken ; and the provinces of Cuyo, 
and of Buenos Ay res proper, now only remain for 
consideration in this respect. 

The same phenomenon which occurs in the 
peninsula of India, where the Ghauts and the 
table -land of Mysore separate the coasts, of 
Coromandel and Malabar, is, in some measure, 
observable in Cuyo and Chili, which are similarly 
separated by the Cordillera. When serene on one £f ^ 
side, it is tempestuous on the other, and the sea- 
sons in both are opposite in their effects to each 
other. In Cuyo, the heats of summer are intense, 
and thunder-storms frequent and violent. In 

M 3 



166 



Climate 



winter, the weather is constantly serene, and the 
frosts are excessive hard ; insomuch that the cattle 
die in the fields, if they are not housed ; and for 
several months the roads over the mountains are 
so much blocked up by the snows as to be im- 
passable. From its hot summers, and the fertility 
of the soil, which is much increased by the rivulets 
of melted snow that run down from the mountains, 
Cuyo produces corn, wine, and oil, in large quan- 
tities, and of excellent quality. The wine of Cuyo 
is much drank all over Spanish America, and pre- 
ferred to every other wine of colonial growth. 

The country immediately around Buenos Ayres, 
which will be that to which attention will be prin- 
cipally directed, deserves a more minute descrip- 
tion, and will terminate this long, but it is hoped, 
not uninteresting, chapter. 

Buenos Ayres is a name of propitious import, 
and is derived from its excellent and wholesome 
air. It is equally salubrious and pleasant, and 
enjoys nearly the same temperature throughout 
the year. In the winter-season, however, thunder 
and lightning is not uncommon, and the rains are 
sometimes of long continuance. The westerly 
winds, too, that have before been mentioned, known 
by the name of Pamperos, are inconvenient, and 
at times dangerous, from their fury. The soil 
around is in general a sandy loam ; rich and pro- 
ductive, and requires neither manure, skill, or 
attention, to yield wheat and maize, ; most kinds 
of European fruit, grapes, melons, figs, apples, 



and Soil. 



pears, quinces, peaches, and cherries ; with the 
productions of warmer climes, pimento, oranges, 
lemons, ananas, &c. This description applies 
equally to the neighbourhood of Montevideo. 

Although the northern side of the river is more 
bold and elevated than the other, its shores are, in 
general, low, and in many places annually inun- 
dated, by which a fructifying sediment remains 
that greatly increases the vegetable produce. To 
the south-east, the coast is wet and low, with 
many marshes. The water-side is covered with 
wood that serves for fuel. The country around 
is flat, and few natural stones are found till near 
the hills that lie to the south. There are few 
Spanish settlements that extend beyond the strag- 
gling villages of the Matanza and Magdalen. 

To the south of the town of Conception, which 
lies on the river Saladillo not far from its mouth, 
is the mount of Vivoras, or Vipers, where are two 
thick woods, with a space between them. Twelve 
miles more to the south are a number of eminences, 
each crowned with a little wood, and surrounded 
by a vale: they are called the woods of the Tor- 
dillo, or tha Grey Horse. The rest is all plain, 
low country, with high watery grass, abounding 
in wild horses, deer, ostriches, and armadilloes. 
Some part of these woods reach within a league of 
the coast, which is low, boggy, and inaccessible, 
the bordering marsh extending nearly a mile in 
breadth. 

About fifty miles to the E.S.E. of the woods of 
M 4 



168 Envirotis of 

the Tordillo is the promontory of Gape St. An- 
thony. It is a peninsula, the entrance into which 
on the western side is over a wide boggy brook 
or lake, which communicates with the sea. The. 
soil of the peninsula is chiefly clay, and middling 
in depth. In winter it is watered by many brooks 5fi 
but they are generally dry in the summer. The 
pastures are not so good, nor the grass so high, a§ 
those of the Tordillo. On the south side of the 
Cape an arm of the sea forms a bay, and ter- 
minates in lakes. Whether this bay affords an- 
chorage or not is not known, as ships always steer 
wide of the Cape, for fear of the, great sand-ban ksj 
called Arenas Gordas. 

Towards the coast there are three ridges of sand. 
That nearest the sea is high and loose. The next 
is half a mile distant, and not so high. The third 
is very low and narrow, and scarcely two feet in 
height. The land between these ridges is barren, 
and almost destitute of herbage of any kind. This 
peninsula abounds with wild horses, which occa- 
sions if to be frequently resorted to by the Indian 
hunters. It is called by the Spaniards the Rincon, 
or Corner, of Tuyu, the country adjoining being 
called Tuyu for more than forty leagues to the west. 
Tuyu in the Indian language signifies clay, that 
being the soil of all the country. These ridges 
of sand reach to within three leagues of Cape 
Lobos, and have to the westward low boggy 
marshes of two leagues or more in breadth, which 
extend all along the coast, till the higher ground 



Buenos Ayres. 169 

of the Tuyu occurs. The soil here grows 
considerably better, the grass being high and 
verdant, and continues so to the foot of the moun- 
tains. These, though they are not very high, may 
be distinguished very plainly in a clear day at the 
distance of twenty leagues, the country being so 
extremely level. 

These mountains do not form a continued ridge, 
but have between them large and pleasant vales. 
They begin to rise at about six leagues from the 
sea-coast, and continue for about forty leagues to 
the west. They rise from the plain very abruptly, 
and are covered with grass. The high land is a 
variegated country, with deep brooks and small 
woods of a low thorny wood very fit for fuel. 
The paths to ascend the heights are few and very 
narrow. Between the mountains there are vallies 
of about two or three leagues broad, which are 
very fertile. They have a deep black soil with- 
out any clay, and are always covered with such 
fine grass, that the cattle which feed there grow 
fat in a very short time. There is no part of 
the province of Buenos Ayres so capable of im- 
provement as this. The only inconvenience it is 
.subject to, is the want of good timber for build- 
ing houses; which, however, in the course of a 
few years, and with a little trouble, may be 
remedied ; especially as there are sufficient ma- 
terials for temporary houses with roofs covered 
with reeds. 



170 Country south of 

That part of the mountains which tends to the 
east, and approaches the sea, is called by the 
Spaniards Vulcan, from a mistake or corruption 
of the Indian name Voolcan, which in the Moluche 
tongue signifies opening, there being a large 
opening to the south. Volcanoes there are none, 
though the Spanish word seems to imply that 
there are. The middle part is called Tandil, from 
a mountain of that name, which is higher than the 
rest. The last point of the ridge towards the west 
is called the Cayru. 

To the east of the Vulcan, towards the sea, the 
country is unequal for about two leagues, after 
which it is flat. Here are some thick and almost 
impenetrable woods, in which are a great deal of 
the low thorny trees that grow on the mountains, 
and plenty of elder-trees. Near the sea-coast, 
about three miles distant from the beach, the 
ground rises and is very fertile, with rich pastures, 
where the cattle become extremely fat. Lower, 
towards the south, and as far as the mouth of 
the Rio Colorado, or first Desaguadero, the shore 
has perpendicular cliffs of a great height, with 
a sandy beach at their base, and sand-banks along 
the coast. 

The country between the first mountains 
and the Casuhati is plain and open; but to- 
wards the sea-coast there is a large desert of 
moveable sand, which the Indians call Hue- 
cuvu Mapu, or the DeviPs Country, which 



Buenos Ay res. 



171 



is dangerous and almost impracticable to 
pass. 

This completes a survey of the country south 
of Buenos Ayres, as far as the Casuhati ; which 
is, as before observed, the beginning of a ridge 
of mountains branching off from the Chilian 
Cordillera. 



CHAP. t. 



Cities — Harbours and towns — Buenos Atfres — Bay 
of Bar r agon — - Montevideo — Maldonado — Cb- 
lonia or St. Sacrament — Santa Fe — Corrientes — 
Assumption — Missions — Cordova ■ — San J ago del 
Estero — Salta — Tucuman — Jujui — Jurisdic- 
tions and cities of Los Chare as — La Plata — 
Potosi — Vales of Tarija — La Paz — Santa 

- Cruz de la Sierra — Moxos — Mendoza — San 
Juan de la Frontera. 

J^S a description of the cities that have been 
erected, and the settlements which have been 
established, has appeared a more natural append? 
age to the topographical account of the country 
in the last chapter, it has been deemed right to 
deviate from the outline originally proposed, and 
to defer the discussions of the objects of natural 
history to a subsequent chapter. 

Buenos Ayres, the capital both of the viceroy- 
alty and of its particular province, first demands 
our notice. It was originally founded by Don 
Pedro de Mendoza, in 1535, under the name of 
Nuestra Senora de Buenos Ay res ; but the perma- 
nent hostility of the surrounding Indians, and the 
consequent distress and famine, suffered by its 
inhabitants, was so great, that in 1539, the place 



Buenos Ayres. 173 

was abandoned, and those who had fixed there 
were all removed to Assumption. In 1580, how- 
ever, it was rebuilt on the same spot, but was then 
called Santa Trinidada de Buenos Ayres. Its geo- 
graphical situation has already been described. 
A little below the town the Rio Chuelo, a small 
river, from two to three fathoms in depth and 
about thirty yards wide, flows into the Plata ; 
none but small craft can enter this creek, nor is it 
always practicable for such, as when the water 
is low in the great river it can not be entered. 
Ships may meet with good anchorage at some 
distance from the shore ; but all goods must be 
landed by lighters, and boats in the creek. Buenos 
Ayres was erected into a bishopric, in 1620. Be- 
fore its elevation into a viceroyalty, this city was 
only considered as the fourth in rank in South 
America; but it is now held as inferior to none 
but Lima. Since it thus became the seat of a 
new government, it has greatly increased in opu- 
lence and in population. It is regularly built, 
and its streets are iroad, unpaved in the middle, 
and with footpaths on each side. The houses are 
reckoned to be six thousand in number. Most of 
the buildings, both public and private, had for- 
merly only mud walls, but a lay-brother of the 
Jesuits who was employed to erect the church of 
his college about sixty years ago, made bricks and 
lime, and instructed the inhabitants in those use- 
ful arts, since which time the city has assumed a 
very different appearance. The architecture of 



174- Buenos Ay res. 

the cathedral, and of most of the churches, is 
likewise ascribed to the lay-brothers of that com- 
munity. The cathedral is spacious and elegant. 
It has a cupola of excellent workmanship, and a 
portico, the design and execution of which are 
much extolled. The interior is profusely, per- 
haps tawdrily, decorated with carved and gilt- 
work. In the dome are paintings in copartments, 
representing the acts of the apostles. The churches 
of St. Francis, and that of the convent of Mercy, 
are next in estimation, and have cupolas and 
steeples nearly in the same style as the cathedral. 
In the church of the Franciscans, there is a pic- 
ture of the Last Supper, painted by an Indian neo- 
phyte, of one of the Uraguay missions, which is 
considered as a very capital performance for a na- 
tive artist : the frame of it is composed entirely of 
feathers of a bright gold colour, so artfully con- 
trived as to appear to the nicest observer to be 
the most correct carving and gilding ; nor can the 
difference be discovered till it is touched by the 
hand : this picture was a present to the Francis- 
cans from the Jesuits, not many years before their 
expulsion. The church of St. John, which is on 
the skirts of the town, is appropriated to the 
Christian Indians. The town-hall, which stands 
on one side of the great square or parade, is a 
large and handsome building, likewise erected on 
a plan of the Jesuits. There are several convents 
and nunneries ; and all these edifices are built of a 
beautifully white stone, which is found in a small 



Buenos Aijres. MS 

plain not far from the town. The whiteness of 
the public buildings is much improved by the 
frequency of the Pampero, which is considered as 
an excellent bleacher. The principal streets are 
the Calle del Santa Trinidada^ and the Calle del 
San Benito. The former, which faces the great 
door of the cathedral, runs almost the whole length 
of the town, and is occupied by the better sort of 
inhabitants. Many of the opulent inhabitants 
have villas in the country, and almost every house 
has a garden, both before and behind ; and many 
have balconies with lattice-work, for the reception 
of odoriferous shrubs and flowers. The inte- 
rior of the houses is, in general, however, very 
dirty, from the indolence of the inhabitants. In 
summer, the rooms are covered with fine Indian 
matting, and in winter with European carpets. 
Every garden is refreshed by water let in from 
the river Plata, by a kind of sluice made of osiers, 
woven very strong and thick. The water thus 
admitted, is sent by smaller channels round the 
beds, and a quantity of it is generally retained in 
a large basin or reservoir, of which there is one in 
every extensive garden. The water when thus re- 
tained, is very clear and sparkling, but by its great 
coldness, it is apt, when drank, to bring on dy- 
senteries and other dangerous diseases. Part of 
the town, which is principally inhabited by mes- 
tices and negroes, has a very miserable and filthy 
appearance, and strongly contrasts with the opu- 
lence and taste displayed in the other. 



IJ6 , Buenos Aijres, 

The inhabitants were usually estimated at about 
thirty thousand, but the calculation of Sir Home 
Popham carries them to the number seventy 
thousand . One fourth of the population are 
whites ; the others are negroes, Indians, and people 
of mixed breed. 

The castle or fort is very insignificant, in point 
of military importance ; it contains a house for the 
military governor, and a royal chapel. At the 
time of the capture, there were about forty can- 
non of various calibres, mounted; and two thou- 
sand stand of arms were found in it. .The usual 
garrison, was seven hundred men, and about three 
thousand of the militia of the country were sup- 
posed to be always in readiness to co-operate with 
the regulars. 

Buenos Ayres is well supplied with provisions, 
particularly with fish in great abundance, and va- 
riety from the river. There is no place in Europe 
or America, where butchers' meat' is more plenti- 
ful, better in quality, or cheaper in price; it is 
frequently distributed gratis to the poor, as it is 
the usual custom to buy the hide alone, the car- 
case being in some measure a gratuitous addition ; 
and the meat is always fat and very palatable. 
Poultry, considering the price of other provisions, 
is very dear ; a couple of fowls generally sell for 
as much as a whole ox. The river-water is rather 
muddy, but soon becomes clear and drinkable by 
being kept in large earthen vessels made for the 
purpose, or in the garden-reservoirs, as before 



Bay of Barragon. Montevideo. 177 

mentioned. Wheat bread is sold at a rate, which 
makes it equal to about 7d. per English quartern 
loaf; and the price is fixed and permanent; the 
loaves are made to correspond in size with the dif- 
ferent small coins of the country. 

The Bay of Barragon is about twelve leagues to 
the south-east of Buenos Ayres, and is very open 
and exposed. Ships, after discharging their car- 
goes in lighters in the roadstead of Buenos Ayres, 
: go to the bay of Barragon to wait for their out- 
ward cargoes. The land about it is all low^ nor 
can ships of any burthen come within two or 
three leagues of the shore. The only shelter they 
have, if it may be so called* is formed by some 
banks under water, which break the force of the 
waves, but at the same time are very inconvenient 
both for going in and coming out ; and there is 
but little security when a storm comes on, against 
a ship's parting from her ground-tackle, and being 
driven on them. The river that runs into the 
bay, can receive Vessels drawing twelve feet water, 
but none larger. There is a small village here, 
but no assistance can be got from the shore for 
fefitting of vessels. 

Montevideo is the best, and indeed the only good 
port in this river. The Spaniards are sensible of 
the importance of this place* and have taken great 
pains to fortify it; having made it much stronger 
than Buenos Ayres. The entrance of the port is 
not very broad. The harbour derives its name 
from a high mountain on its western point which 

N 



17S 



Montevideo* 



may be seen at the distance of twelve, or even 
sixteen leagues. It is dangerous to sail too near 
to the western point, as there are many rocks un- 
der water. On the east side the entrance is deeper 
and safer. Beyond the western point there is a 
square battery built close to the water's edge. 
The bay is almost circular, and within it, on the 
east side, there is a small island abounding with 
rabbits. The surrounding land is very high, and 
protects the bay from all winds. The water is 
always as smooth as a mill-pond, and there is 
sufficient depth for ships of the first rate. The 
bottom is soft clay. 

The town of Montevideo occupies the whole of 
a peninsular promontory, that forms the eastern 
point of the harbour. The fortifications are to 
the north ; they are regular works, built of stone, 
inclosing the whole of the peninsula, and have a 
pretty strong fort, with four bastions and mounted 
with brass cannon, in the centre; the barracks are 
bomb-proof. The garrison is generally about 
four or five hundred men. The other side of the 
bay is without any fortification, nor has the high 
mountain even so much as a watch-tower. The 
town makes a handsome appearance from the har- 
bour, as it is built upon an ascent, and the houses 
appear interspersed with gardens and trees. The 
houses are of stone and brick, only one story high, 
except a few. The roofs are flat, and the floors of 
brick, though some have only earth. The gover- 
nor's residence, which has been compared to a 



Montevideo. 



179 



range of livery-stables in England, is of such 
construction* Few houses have glass windows* 
There are some, however, that belong to people 
of distinction, which are two and three stones 
high* and have balconies in front. None have 
any chimnies ; fire is generally kindled in the 
yard, or a separate kitchen, and in wet or cold 
weather it is brought into the rooms in fire-pans* 
The streets run strait, and cross each other at 
right angles, but with one or two exceptions are 
very incommodious, being composed of large 
loose stones and sand. As the inhabitants, in 
general, ride on horseback, they pay little atten- 
tion to the improvement of their roads. Strange 
as it may appear, it is related as a fact, that to 
fill up a hole in the road, one of a team has 
been killed, to make the passage of the wheels 
easier for the rest. Rats are very abundant in 
the town, and are a great nuisance. Near the 
top of the town is the market-place, about three 
hundred yards square, which is w r ell supplied 
with fruit. On the west a large church, which 
has been several years in hand, is building in a 
tolerable style, but has nothing very remarkable. 

It was in 1726, that the first settlements in the 
neighbourhood of Montevideo took place ; but in 
a very inconsiderable degree. In 1731, Don 
Bruno de Zabala, then governor of Rio de la 
Plata, brought over fourteen or fifteen families 
from Palma^, one of the Canary islands, and laid 
the foundation of the city. 

% 2 



180 



Montevideo, 



Since *that time it has greatly increased, and 
still continues to rise in importance, in propor- 
tion as the trade of the province becomes more 
extensive. Provisions are here very plentiful, and 
cheap. This abundance of the necessaries of life 
encourages, in the common people, a propensity 
to idleness, which has given rise to an order of 
strollers, who are called Gauderois. Thejr mode 
of life resembles that of the gypsies, except that 
they are not addicted to thieving. These vaga- 
bonds are natives of Montevideo, or the circumja- 
cent places : they are very badly clothed, their 
whole dress consisting only of a coarse shirt, and 
a worse upper garment. These articles of dress, 
together with horse-furniture, serve them for bed- 
ding, and a saddle for a pillow. They stroll 
about with a kind of small guitars, to the sound 
of which they sing ballads of their own compo- 
sition, or such as they have learned from others. 
Love is, in general, the subject of these songs. 
Thus they wander about the country, and en- 
deavour to divert the peasants, who, in return, 
shew their gratitude by furnishing them with 
victuals during their stay with them, and even 
giving them other horses when they lose their 
own. This liberality and generosity will appear 
the less surprising, when the very little value is 
considered, that horses are of in this country. 
Great herds of them run about wild in the plains,, 
and seem to belong to whoever will take the trou- 
ble of catching them. The Gauderois generally 



Gauderois. 



181 



march about in parties consisting of four, and 
sometimes even of more. With respect to the 
means of procuring food, they give themselves so 
little concern, that, when setting out on an excur- 
sion, they provide themselves only with a rope, a 
few balls, which are fastened to the ends of the 
ropes, and a knife. When attacked by hunger, 
they contrive to get one of the young cows or 
bulls, which run about wild, entangled in their 
snares. They throw the captured animal down, 
tie its legs together, and then cut, even before it 
is dead, the flesh, together with the skin, from 
the bone, make a few incisions in it, and thus 
prepared, put it to the fire: when half roasted, 
it is devoured without any addition or condiment, 
except a little salt, when they happen to carry 
any with them.- — Some of them kill a cow merely 
for the purpose of obtaining the flesh between the 
ribs and the skin.— Others eat nothing except 
the tongue, which they roast in the red hot em- 
bers. The remainder of the carcase is all left in 
the field, and becomes the prey of carnivorous 
birds and wild beasts. Others again are still 
more easily satisfied, taking nothing but the mar- 
row-bone, from which they cut off all the flesh, 
and then hold it over the fire till the marrow be* 
comes soft and fluid. Sometimes they practise 
the following singular mode of cookery : having 
killed a cow, they take out the entrails, and, col- 
lecting all the tallow and lumps of fat, put them 
into the hollow carcase. They then kindle some 

n 3 



182 



Montevideo. 



dried cow- dung, and apply it to the tallow, that 
it may take fire, and penetrate into the flesh an4 
bones. For this purpose, they close up the car- 
case as well as possible, so that the smoke comes 
put of the mouth, and another aperture made in 
the lower part of the belly. In this manner the 
cow often continues roasting a whole night, or a 
considerable part of the day. When it is done 
enough, the company place themselves around, 
and each cuts for himself the piece he likes best, 
and devours it without bread or salt. What re- 
mains is left in the field, except any of them 
happens to carry a portion of this favourite food 
to some particular friend. 

There are two ways of travelling from Monte- 
video to Buenos Ayres ; one of them by land as 
far as El Real de San Carlos. In the dry season 
of the year this is the shortest ; but, in the rainy 
season, the smallest rivulets swell to such a 
height, that no one can cross them without dan- 
ger, sometimes not at all. At San Carlos, boats 
are always in readiness to transport passengers 
across the Rio de la Plata, which is here ten 
leagues broad, and to carry back the orders of the 
governor, and all kinds of provisions, to San 
Carlos. The most usual manner of travelling from 
Montevideo to Buenos Ayres, is by water. If 
the weather be favourable, a boat may perform 
this passage in twenty-four hours, though the 
distance be forty leagues : but, when the wind is 



Maldonado. Colonia. 



contrary, it may happen, that fourteen days will 
scarcely be sufficient. 

Maldonado is an open harbour, near the north 
entrance of the Plata. It is sheltered from the 
south-east winds by a small island, which bears 
the same name. The Spaniards have a fort here, 
garrisoned by a detachment from Montevideo. 
Great hopes were at first entertained, that its 
port would have answered for large vessels, but 
it has been found to be very unsafe. The mouth 
of the river St. Lucia, higher up the river, is stated 
to be capable of being rendered a capacious and 
secure harbour, and that the removal of a sand- 
bank at its entrance, which at present obstructs 
the channel, could, in the opinion of experienced 
men, be removed with little labour or expense. 

Colonia, or, as it is more generally called, 
St. Sacrament, which is situated opposite to 
Buenos Ayres, has a tolerable port, receiving 
some shelter from the islands of St. Gabriel. 
Yet, it is otherwise open and exposed, and has 
some rocks and shoals that render it necessary 
to have a good pilot to steer into it with safet} r . 

It was founded by the Portuguese, in the year 
1679, under Don Manuel de Lobo, and has oc- 
casioned many struggles between the rival na- 
tions of Spain and Portugal. It was successively 
wrested from its founders, restored by Charles V. 
to the Portuguese, resumed in 17o0 by Spain, 
and finally, in I77S, ceded to the Spaniards, who 
have ever since remained in possession. Whilst 

N 4 



184 Santa Fe. Corrientes. 

in the hands of Portugal, it flourished much by 
the prosecution of a contraband trade with 
Buenos Ayres, but is now of Very little compa- 
rative importance. The fortress on the island of 
St. Gabriel, which protects the harbour, is rec- 
koned a strong one. 

Santa Fe is about two hundred and forty miles 
north-west of Buenos Ayres, and the next esta- 
blishment in the province, in point of rank, 
to the capital. It stands at the confluence 
of the rivers Salado and Paraguay, in 31* 
40' S. latitude, and 39° 40' W. longitude. It is 
of a middling size, and is built of brick, it lan- 
guished much from the frequent incursions of the 
wild Indians, but has, for the last sixty years, 
been free from them. It is subject to occasional 
great inconvenience from the inundations of the 
rivers. It was founded in 1573, by Juan de 
Garey, a private Biscay an adventurer. 

Corrientes is about two hundred and forty 
miles higher up and at the confluence of the Pa- 
rana and the Paraguay. It is small and incon-» 
siderable, and in no wise answering the dignity of 
its situation, at the junction of these two magnU 
ficent streams. Santa Lucia and Chanas y the for- 
mer situated at the point where the river Cor- 
rientes joins the Paraguay, are towns of still Jess 
importance. 

The ruins of the first fort that was built on th<* 
Rio de la Plata, lie at the Rincon, or corner of 
Gaboto, so called from Sebastian Cabot, who built 



Assumption, 185 

it in 1526, at the mouth of the Rio Tercero, here 
called by its original appellation of Zarcaranna. 
He named it the Fort of the Holy Ghost, but Ca- 
bot's fort was its usual name, till its abandonment 
in 1554}, 

Of the province of Paraguay, the chief place is 
Assumption, It stands on the river Paraguay, a 
little above the junction of the Pilcomayo. A 
fort was built here in 1568, by Don Gonzales de* 
Mendoza and Don Juan de Salazar, which from 
the conveniency of its situation grew into a city, 
and became the metropolis of Paraguay. It was 
erected into a bishopric in 1547, under the title of 
Oppidum seu Pagus de Rio de la Plata. It is in- 
habited by about five hundreo) families of Spa- 
niards, and several thousands of Indians and mes- 
tices. The adjacent territory is very rich and 
fertile, producing a great abundance and variety 
of fruits, both those which are natural to the 
country, and such as have been transplanted from 
Spain. The air is temperate, and the climate ge- 
nial ; the trees are clothed in perennial verdure, 
and the rich pastures in the neighbourhood feed 
numerous herds of cattle. The Spanish inhabit- 
ants pride themselves upon their descent from 
some of the best families of Spain. Contiguous 
to the town there is a single mountain of extraor- 
dinary height. Yaguaron is a large town, inha- 
bited solely by Indians, about twenty miles below 
Assumption. 

Guaijra^ Ciuidad Real, and Villa Rica, were 



1S6 



Missions. 



establishments in Paraguay, which flourished and 
decayed in succession. The two latter were prin- 
cipally devastated by the Portuguese from Brazil, 
nor have they, though hostilities have long ago 
ceased on these frontiers, since risen to any de- 
gree of consequence. The trade in the herb of 
Paraguay, was a source of considerable benefit to 
Villa Rica, but this has now been chiefly trans- 
ferred to Cunuguati x a town built about the begin- 
ning of the last century at the foot of the moun- 
tains of Maracayu, where the greatest quantities 
of the herb are grown. 

The missions established by the Jesuits, and 
formerly called reductions, are scattered all over 
the country of Paraguay, and the banks of the 
Parana, and the Uraguay. There are about 
thirty-two regular towns established, which have, 
since the expulsion of the Jesuits, been converted 
into presidencies, and are under the same mode 
of government as the rest of the Spanish colonies; 
although the Franciscan and Dominican fathers 
who are regularly sent thither from Buenos 
Ayres, have a considerable degree of influence, 
and have, in some measure, prevented the aban- 
donment of them by the civilized Indians, which 
was at first found rapidly to follow the departure 
of their former patriarchal governors. An ac- 
count of their original establishment and pro- 
gress will come under the historical department. 
Their actual situation is not well known, but is 
generally understood to be greatly declined from 



Puerto de la Candelaria, 



the prosperity and tranquillity in which the Je- 
suits left them. From thirty to forty thousand 
families of converted Indians are reckoned to be 
the number of the inhabitants. The towns are 
pretty large, the streets strait, and the houses 
uniform. In the centre of each is a square, on 
one side of which a church is built, and on the 
other an arsenal. The houses are, in general, 
very mean and simple, built with mud walls 
and timber, but convenient and pleasant. Some 
are built of stone, and tiled. The churches are 
large and well built, and are rich in the pageantry 
of the Catholic religion. They carry on a consi- 
derable trade in the herb of Paraguay, in wax 
and honey, and other articles which the fertile 
territory around them furnishes in abundance. 

Puerto' de la Candelaria on the Paraguay, in la- 
titude 20° 40' S. is the northernmost regular esta- 
blishment of the Spaniards ; but has nothing 
otherwise remarkable; it was founded in 1537, 
by Don Juan de Ayolas. Xeres de la Frontera, 
so called from its lying on the eastern verge of 
the Spanish dominions, was once a flourishing 
place, and had a college of missionaries ; it was 
situated inland between the Paraguay and the 
Parana ; but it has long since gone to decay, and 
the scite of its ruins is not even exactly known. 
On the west bank of the Paraguay, there are the 
small towns of Conception and Sant Ignatio, but 
they are either decayed and abandoned, or are of 
no kind of importance. 



18$ Cordova. 

Of the province of Tucuman, San J ago del 
Estero was formerly considered as the capital, 
but that title may now be more properly bestowed 
on Cordova. This city is situated in 31° 30' S» 
latitude, and 63° 30' W. longitude, in a marshy but 
rich and fertile soil, on a small river called Rio 
Primero, which is lost in the sands, or salt-lakes, 
to the south-east. It is the seat of a bishopric, 
established in 1570, and has several ecclesiastical 
establishments, as well as an university and a se- 
minary for young noblemen. The climate is tem- 
perate and healthy. The adjacent territory is 
full of cattle, and abounding in excellent pasture. 
It produces plenty of corn, fruits, and other neces- 
saries, and has several productive salt-pits. The 
town carries on a considerable trade in these 
commodities with Peru, on the road to which 
from Buenos Ayres, it lies, taking gold and silver 
in return. The Spanish inhabitants amount to 
about fifteen hundred, with about four thousand 
negroes. They are chiefly employed in tilling the 
ground, and manufacturing cloth, both of cotton 
and wool, which they send to Peru. Mules also 
form a considerable branch of the inland traffic of 
Cordova; the Tucuman mules being famous all 
over these regions for strength and docility. Cor- 
dova was founded in 1473, by Don Jerom de 
Cabrera. The cathedral is reckoned a handsome 
edifice, and the market-place is spacious, and 
adorned with buildings of considerable magnU 
tude. The streets, are cleaner than those of 



San Jago del Estero. 189 

Buenos Ayres, being paved. The college, for- 
merly belonging to the Jesuits, is a large and 
massy building, now appropriated to public pur- 
poses. 

San Jago del Estero, formerly the capital of Tu- 
cuman, and an episcopal see, lies on the banks 
of the Rio Dolce, which is also called here the 
river of San Jago, and is pretty large and naviga- 
ble, affording plenty and variety of fish. The 
provincial government is now removed from it, 
and the bishopric is transferred to San Miguel de 
Tucuman. The town is not very considerable, 
and contains only three hundred houses, inhabited 
by about five hundred families, chiefly mestices 
and mulattoes. They are described as lazy and 
sickly, owing to the heat of the climate, and more 
addicted to pleasure than to industry. The town 
stands on a flat, surrounded by forests, which 
stagnate the air. The women/ here are reckoned 
particularly handsome, but they are frequently 
deformed by wens, or swelilings of the throat. 
The neighbouring country* is rich, producing 
plenty of wheat, rice, and barley ; also fruits of 
all kinds, particularly fip-*s and grapes. The 
forests afford plenty of p;ame, but are also in- 
fested with beasts of p rey. There are three 
churches besides the cathedral. San Jago has 
much fallen to decay from the" removal of the 
seat of the provincial government, and the diver- 
sion into other channels of its former trade. There 
are very few open spots* in the district of San Jago. 
Behind the woods t o the westward, towards 



1 90 San Miguel de Tucunian* 

. the mountains of Rioja, there are vast plains, 
where there is plenty of pasture, but without 
any fresh water, except what is collected 
in rainy seasons. Cotton thrives in the neigh- 
bourhood very well, and indigo was formerly 
a great commodity ; but, through the neglect 
of the inhabitants, is entirely lost. A small 
quantity of cochineal is collected occasionally, 
and much more might be produced, if the opun* 
tia, which nourishes the cochineal -insect, was 
properly cultivated; but it only grows wild in 
the woods. Wax and honey are likewise found 
in the woods, and, besides corn, form the only 
articles of trade at present from San Jago. There 
is a kind of honey called alpamisqua, made by a 
very small bee, which is found in holes under 
ground ; its taste is an acidulated sweet; it is very 
diuretic, and esteemed good for the stone and 
gravel. Saltpetre might be made a conside- 
rable article of traffic, as it abounds in the 
vicinity of San Jago, and through the country 
as far as Rioja. This town was founded in 1562, 
by Don Francisco d'Aguirre, and was named 
from a lake or pool formed by the Rio Dolce at 
the place where it is built. 

Bat San Miguel de Tucuman was the earliest 
establishment the Spaniards had in this province, 
going back as far as 1549. It is a pleasant little 
town, surrounded by groves of citron, orange, 
fig, and pomegranate trees, situated on a small 
river called Qaebrada de Calchaque^ which falls 
into the Dolce. It is a bishop's see, and contains 



Salta. Jiijui. 191 

three monasteries. The inhabitants are wealthy, 
and work some mines in the ridge of the Cordil- 
lera, from which the town is not far distant. The 
air here is reckoned the most salubrious of the 
province. 

Salta, or San Philippe de Lerma, was founded 
in 1582, by Don Hernando de Lerma. It lies in 
latitude 24° 15' S. and is pleasantly situated in a 
valley surrounded by mountains, from which a 
number of brooks descend, and join the small 
river Arias, on the banks of which Salta is built. 
It is regularly divided by four principal -streets, 
which are wide, but unpaved. The market-place 
is a regular and large square, on one side of 
which stands a beautiful town -house, and oppo- 
site to it the principal church. There are seven 
churches and ecclesiastical establishments. It is 
the residence of the governor-intendant and of 
the administration of the province of Tucuman. 
There are about six hundred Spanish families 
here, and the whole population, including mes- 
tices and slaves, is estimated to amount to nine 
thousand souls. The inhabitants, who carry on 
a considerable transit-trade with Potosi, Peru, 
and Chili, are richer and more polished than those 
of Cordova and Tucuman. 

San Salvador de Jvjui, or Xuxni, was founded 
a little before Salta, and after being twice de- 
stroyed by the Indians of Chaco, was rebuilt for 
the third time in 1593. It is a small town, con- 
taining about three hundred houses and three 



192 



New London, 



thousand inhabitants, who carry on some trade: 
with Potosi; they might derive great benefit from 
the rich ores in the neighbourhood, but they have 
neither sufficient enterprise or skill to make a 
proper use of the advantages they possess in this 
respect. It stands at the foot of one of the high 
mountains of the Cordillera, and upon a river 
which falls into the Vermejo. It is the most 
northerly place of the province, being within one 
degree of the tropic. 

A town and fortress was founded in by 
D<on Juan Gomez de Zurita, in latitude 29° 12'S. 
on the road from San Jago to Chili, to which he 
gave the name of New London, in compliment to 
Mary queen of England, the consort of Philip II. ; 
but it is now abandoned, and no vestiges of it are 
lfift, as is the case with Esteco, a town which 
had been established in 1567. Rioja is a small 
town amongst the mountains, the neighbourhood 
of which produces excellent wine. None others 
•worthy of being particularized occur in Tu- 
cuman. 

Of the extensive and wealthy province of Los 
Charcas, the city of TjQ Plata is the capital. It 
was founded in 1538, by Pedro Anzures, one of 
Pizarro's captains, on the scite of the Indian town 
of Chuquisaca, and this latter name has prevailed 
over that which was given to the place by the 
Spaniards, in allusion to the rich silver-mines of 
Porco in its neighbourhood. The city stands in: 
a sipall plain, environed by eminences, whiefe 



La Plata, 



193 



defend it from the winds. The temperature of 
the air in summer is very mild, nor is there any 
considerable difference throughout the year; but 
in the winter, which begins in September and 
continues till March, thunder-storms are not un- 
frequent, and the rains are of long continuance. 
In the other parts of the year the atmosphere is 
bright and serene. The houses in the great 
square, and those adjoining to it, are of two sto- 
ries, but in the remainder of the town only of 
one. They are covered with tiles, very roomy 
and convenient, with pleasant gardens planted 
with European fruits. Water is scarce, though 
there are public fountains dispersed in different 
parts of the city. The inhabitants, Spaniards and 
Indians, are reckoned to amount to fourteen thou- 
sand. It is the see of an archbishop, whose eccle- 
siastical jurisdiction extends over the whole Vice- 
royalty of Buenos Ayres, excepting the province 
of Cuyo, which belongs to the diocese of Santiago 
de Chili. The cathedral is large, and of good 
architecture, much ornamented with painting > 
and gilding. There is another church and five 
convents, all spacious buildings with splendid 
churches ; likewise two nunneries and a conven- 
tual hospital, the expenses of which are defrayed 
by the king. La Plata has an university dedicated 
to St. Francis Xavier, the chairs of which are 
filled indifferently, either by secular clergy or lay- 
men. Two leagues from the city runs the river 
Cachimay, along the banks of which are a num- 

O 



1 <H PotosL 

ber of pleasant villas, belonging to the inhabitants* 
About six leagues on the road to Potosi is the 
river Pilcomayo, which is passed by a large stone 
bridge. During some months of the year this 
river furnishes La Plata with a great abundance of 
fish, especially dorados, which generally weigh be- 
tween twenty and twenty-five pounds. Other 
provisions, bread, flesh, and fruit, are supplied by 
the adjacent districts. La Plata became a bi- 
shopric in 15 51, was made the seat of the royal 
audience of Los Chareas in 15:39? and in 1608" 
received archiepiscopai honours. The nobility of 
this place reckon themselves amongst the most 
distinguished of Peru, and pride themselves upon 
their ancestry. 

' The city of Potosi, which ow T es its origin to the 
famous silver-mines, which have been so amply 
described, was speedily formed in their vicinity, 
and is stated to contain seventy thousand inhabit- 
ants, of whom about ten thousand are Spaniards, 
but when all the slaves and others employed in the 
adjacent mines are reckoned, they may be esti- 
mated at one hundred thousand. It lies in lati- 
tude 20°26'S. and longitude 66° 16' W. about 
sixty miles distant from La Plata. The circuit of 
the town is nearly two leagues, and it contains 
many noble families, and extraordinary riches. 
The air of the mountain being. extremely cold and 
dry, the adjacent country is rendered remarkably 
barren, producing neither grain nor fruit, nor any 
esculent. The town, however, enjoys an abund- 



Potosi. 1 95 

ance of every kind of provisions and necessaries, 
which are brought from great distances, and the 
trade in which is great and beneficial. Grain is 
sent from some provinces, various manufactures 
from others, and cattle from almost all. Those 
who trade in European goods resort to Potosi, as 
to a market where there is a great consumption, 
excellent prices, and plenty of silver to give in ex- 
change. The fuel, which is principally charcoal, 
is brought from a great distance, and the scarcity 
and value of timber for building, has already 
been instanced. The churches of Potosi are re- 
markably magnificent, and profusely decorated 
with utensils and ornaments of gold and silver. 
The houses are, in general, well built, and the in- 
habitants possess great wealth, and are sumptuous 
to excess in their dress and furniture. But the 
militia of the place, about five hundred in num- 
ber, are described as making a wretched appear- 
ance, without uniforms, without field-pieces, and 
one half of them parading with wooden musquets. 
Twelve miles south of Potosi are the hot medicinal 
springs called Don Diego. They are sulphureous, 
and impregnated with hepatic gas. As in other 
countries, some resort thither in search of health, 
and others of amusement. 

Potosi and its district is included in the juris- 
diction of La Plata. That of Tomina beoins about 

o 

fifty-four miles south-east of the city La Plata, 
and borders eastward on the Indian nation of the 
Chiriguanos. The climate is hot, and the pro- 

o 2 



196 Jurisdictions of Tomina, Porco, 

duee of the soil is, consequently, that usually 
found in hot countries. Some parts- have vine- 
yards, and in others, considerable quantities of su- 
gar are made. It abounds also in cattle and sheep. 
Its extent, in some places, is about one hundred 
and forty miles. The vicinity of the unsubdued 
Chiriguanos is a perpetual source of uneasiness 
to the towns in this jurisdiction, and they have 
even at times menaced the city of La Plata. 

The jurisdiction of Poreo, the capital of which, 
is Talvevara de Puna, but sometimes called Poreo, 
is one hundred and eighty miles long and one 
hundred and twenty broad. The coldness of its 
situation occasions a scarcity of grain and fruits, 
but the inhabitants rear great numbers of cattle, 
sheep, and guanacos. There are hot springs. Its 
mines have already been noticed. 

One hundred and eighty miles south of La 
Plata, is the jurisdiction of Chicas y Tarija-, 
that part which bears properly the name of Tarija, 
has been considered as the Eden of these regions. 
The town of San Barnard de Tarija has but few 
Spanish inhabitants, and the corregidor usually 
resides in the district of Chicas. The original set- 
tlement of the Spaniards in these vallies, was as 
early as the time of Pizarro, under the conduct of 
Francisco de Tarija, and has been already noticed. 
When the Spaniards, many years afterwards pene- 
trated again, into this district, they found the me- 
mory of Tarija, however, alone remained ; for at 
his death the Indians had reverted to their original 



Chicas y Tarija. 197 

state. An incursion of the Chiriguai|s>s subse- 
quently carried desolation into the vales of Tarija, 
in which they took up their abode for some time ; 
but in 1574, they were expelled by the Spaniards 
from Peru under Luis de Fuentes, who founded 
and peopled the chief town as well as other settle- 
ments. In that of San Bernardo, there are four 
convents, but in three of them there is no other 
monk but the prior. 

The Spanish population of Tarija was not, at 
the commencement, of the best description, on 
account of a privilege granted to all those who 
should settle there, that they should not be prose- 
cuted for any debts. That it gradually improved, 
both in numbers and condition, was equally 
owing to the resources of the country itself, and 
to the misfortunes that befel those in its vicinity, 
A plague of devouring insects, of the locust-kind, 
overspread the district of Pilaya, and many of its 
inhabitants took up their abode in Tarija. The 
same thing happened when the celebrated mines of 
Lipes were inundated, more particularly the one 
called the Table of Silver. The miners, abandon- 
ing the mountainous territory, came down to the 
vallies, where they sought in agriculture, a poorer, 
but more natural, and less precarious, subsistence. 

Of these united districts, Chicas, though the 
least fertile and pleasant, has acquired more di- 
stinction from its possessing a few gold mines ; it 
is watered by the Toropalca and the Tarija, which 
respectively join the Pilcomayo and the Vermejo. 

o 3 



*98 Chicas y 

TcrAza is the chief town of Chicas, and has a good 
many Spanish inhabitants, who are supported by the 
gold and silver-mines around, and likewise act as 
carriers. Santiago dc Cotagaita is about one hun- 
dred miles distant from Potosi, whither its inhabit- 
ants convey the charcoal they burn. This branch of 
traffic is very profitable to them. The position of 
the town, which lies between a river and a 
swampy tract on the route of Buenos Ayres, is 
incommodious; but its climate is pleasant. Its 
population is very numerous, and consists chiefly 
of mestices, with a few Spaniards and Indians, 
At the town of Vitoehe t leather, in imitation of the 
Spanish, is manufactured with great success, and 
in a quantity that suffices for the supply of all the 
surrounding districts. This branch of industry 
affords the inhabitants a regular commerce and a 
decent support. There are many flocks of goats, 
which are reared with infinite care, on account of 
their skins being the best adapted to the above 
manufacture. 

The territory of Chicas is little cultivated, and 
though it produces a small proportion of maize, 
wheat, and barley, it does not suffice for the inha- 
bitants. From fifty to sixty thousand marks of 
silver, and about an hundred thousand piastres in 
gold, are, on an average estimate, annually ex- 
tracted from the mines in this dependency. This 
amount the inhabitants exchange for corn, cattle, 
wood, and other necessaries, drawn from Tarija, 



Tarija. 1 99 

which is separated from the rest of the department 
by rugged mountains, 

The olescent into the delightful vales of Tarija, 
is by several steep and precipitous hills. The se- 
renity of the sky, the genial temperature of the air, 
the beauty and fertility of the soil, and the plenti- 
ful supply of water, are extolled as surpassing 
those of any other part of America. Wheat, 
maize,, cocoa, grapes, flax, the herb of Paraguay, 
&c. are produced almost spontaneously ; and if 
the abundance of the produce be not proportioned 
fro the fecundity of the soil, it is either on account 
of the indolence of the inhabitants, or of the po- 
verty of the adjacent departments, which can not 
make any considerable demands for their produc- 
tions. San Bernardo is situated in a delightful 
plain well supplied with water, which is very fer- 
tile, but is exclusively appropriated to the culture 
of maize and the rearing of swine. San Lorenzo, 
at the foot of the mountains, enjoys a similar tem- 
perature and fertility. The valley of Bermejo is 
indifferently peopled, and there is room for new 
settlers. Its temperature is warm and moist; and 
ft is adapted to the rearing of cattle, as well as to 
the culture of olives, canes, and a variety of plants 
and productions, which are not to be found in the 
other parts of the dependency of Tarija. 

Throughout the whole department the soil 
yields, without the aid of man, abundant pas- 
tures, and large herds of cattle, and flocks of 
sheep are reared in them. The annual exporta- 

o 4 



%00 -Lipcs, Amparaes, v 

tion of black cattle alone, is computed to amount 
to ten thousand head, which are valued at from 
eight to ten piastres each. The demands for 
European and other merchandize in Tarija an- 
nually exceed sixty thousand piastres. 

Amidst these advantages, the inhabitants of the 
valley of Tarija are very poor, on account of their 
propensity to idleness. Relying on the compara- 
tive facility with which their subsistence is pro- 
cured, they spend their days beneath the shade of 
their huts, in imitation of the inhabitants of Tucu- 
man; and the ridiculous notions relative to the 
distinguished nobility of their progenitors, which 
have taken a strong hold on them contribute 
greatly to maintain them in this state of inaction. 

The rivers, by which it is intersected, contribute 
greatly to the fertility of this valley. They are all 
received by the Pikomayo and the Vermejo. The 
principal are the San Juan and the Guadalquivir. 

The jurisdiction of Lipes has a chief town of the 
same name. It is one hundred and eighty miles 
long, and sixty broad. The air is very cold, so 
that grain and fruit thrive very ill ; but it abounds 
in cattle, particularly those natural to the coun- 
try, vicunnas, pacos, and lamas. These animals, 
are, however, common to all those tracts, the 
elevation of which renders the air continually 
cold. In the plains are found salt, saltpetre, and 
sulphur. 

The jurisdiction of Amparaes, or Jamparaes, be- 
gins a little to the eastward of the city of La 



Oruro, Pilaga, Oropesa. 201 

Plata, and extends to the limits of the district of 
Santa Cruz de la Sierra. It produces fruits, 
yams, barley, wheat, maize, &c. which are sent 
to the cities of La Plata and Potosi. It has a con- 
siderable salt-mine, and some parts of it furnish 
wines and sugar. 

The capital of Oruro, ninety miles north-west 
from La Plata, is called San Phelipe de Austria de 
Oruro. It was formerly the residence of wealthy 
capitalists, but is now much decayed, and nearly 
abandoned, from the causes mentioned when 
speaking of its mines. The greatest part of this 
jurisdiction is so co]d, as not to be fit for the pro- 
duction of any esculent vegetables; but there are 
great numbers of cattle, as well as of vicunnas, 
guanacos, and lamas. 

In the jurisdiction of Pi lay a and Pispaya, there 
are two towns of the same name, but they are 
much decayed; and the chief place is Centi^ 
situated in a valley of that name. It abounds in 
grain, pulse, fruit; and the great quantity of 
wine made here, enable it to carry on a lucrative 
commerce with the other provinces. Very good 
brandy is also made here. 

Oropesa is the capital of the district of Cocha- 
hamba, and is situated in latitude 19° S. and lon- 
gitude 66° 10' W. It was built by Don Francisco 
de Toledo. It is not very populous, but the in- 
habitants have a profitable trade with Potosi, 
whither they carry their sheep, corn, and vege- 
tables. The district of Cochabamba is one hun- 



2 OS Panci, Caranges. Sicasica, 

tired and twenty miles long, and about one hun« 
died broad. From the quantity of corn it pro- 
duces, it has been called the granary of Peru. 
The fruits of the valley of Arqna are 5 much ce- 
lebrated. The air is in most parts very mild and 
pure. 

Paria takes its name from the lake along the 
borders of which this district extends. The air 
is very cold, and it produces very little grain; 
but cattle of all kinds are plentiful. The cheese 
made here, both from sheep and cow's milk, i« 
very much esteemed. It contains salt-mines, 
saline lakes, and hot springs. 

Caranges has for its capital Tarapaca, contiguous 
to the lake das Aidlagas. It is about one hundred 
miles in length, and about ninety in breadth. 
The climate is cold, and the soil yields few escu-t 
lent vegetables, but it abounds in cattle, swine, 
and lamas. 

Sicasica has a town of the same name. The 
countries of this jurisdiction extend in some parts 
above three hundred miles, and the temperature 
is consequently various. Some spots are very 
hot, and produce an exuberance of coca, a shrub 
which will be described hereafter, and which is 
the source of a considerable commerce, supplying 
all the mine-towns of Los Charcas. The leaves 
of this plant are packed in frails, each of which 
must, according to a royal ordinance, contain 
eight pounds, and the current price of such a 
frail at Fotosi, and the other mine- towns, is from 



Aiacama. La Paz, 203 



nine to ten piastres. The colder parts feed large 
herds of cattle, togetherwith vicunnas, guanacos, 
and other wild creatures, 

Atacama, great part of which is a desert and 
depopulated country, is the westernmost juris- 
diction of Los Charcas, and of the whole viceroy- 
alty of Buenos Ayres, extending across the Cor- 
dillera to the South Sea. It belongs geographi- 
cally either to Peru or to Chili, between which it is 
interposed, and partakes of the nature of their 
soil and climate. Its chief town is Atacama, in 
23° 30' S. latitude, and 69° 30' W. longitude. It 
is about one hundred miles from the coast, but has 
a communication with the sea by the little port of 
Cobija, where is a village of about forty or fifty 
houses of Indians, who are supplied from Ata- 
cama with wheat and yams, in exchange for fish. 
The port is only a little creek running about a 
mile inland, where there is a little shelter from 
the south and south-west winds, which are the 
most usual on the coast. It is destitute of neces- 
saries ; but, being remote from any custom-house, 
used to be frequented by the French inter- 
lopers. 

The eastern parts of Los Charcas comprise 
the districts of La Paz, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, 
and Moxos, 

La Paz has six subordinate jurisdictions. The 
first contains the city and territory of La Paz, or 
the City of Peace, so called in memory of the 
public tranquillity which reigned in Peru at the 



204 La Paz. Omasuyos* 

time of its foundation, subsequent to the defeat 
and execution of Gonzalo Pizarro and his adhe« 
rents. It was founded, in 1548, by Pedro de la 
Gasca, in a fruitful valley at the foot of one of 
the high ridges of the Cordillera. Along the 
valley flows a pretty large river, called the Cajana 
or Choqueasso. From the vicinity of the Cordil- 
lera, great part of the country is exposed to a bleak 
and cold air, and hard frosts, snow, and hail, are 
not uncommon ; but the city itself is secured from 
them by its happy situation. Other parts are also so 
well sheltered, that they produce all the vegetables 
of a hot climate. In the mountainous parts there 
are large woods of valuable timber, but they are 
infested with wild beasts: they have also a few 
deer, and on the heaths are found guanacos, vi4 
cunnas, and lamas, and great numbers of cattle 
of the European species. * 

The city is of a middling size, has been the see 
of a bishop since the year 1603, and, besides the 
cathedral, has four churches, five convents, and 
three nunneries. Here is also a college dedicated 
to St. Jerom, for the education of youth, whe- 
ther designed for ecclesiastical or civil employ- 
ments. 

To'the north-west, and almost at the gates of 
La Paz, "the jurisdiction of Omasuyos begins, and 
extends about sixty miles, being bounded on the 
west by the famous lake of Titiaca. The "air is 
somewhat cold, so that it produces little grain, but 
that deficiency is abundantly compensated by the 



Pacages. Lavicaja. Chucuito. 205 

great numbers of cattle. An advantageous trade in 
fish is likewise carried on to the other provinces by 
the Indians, who live on the borders of the lake, 
and who are very industrious in improving that 
advantage. 

South-west of La Paz is the jurisdiction of 
Pacages, the greatest part of which, being in a 
cold climate, produces little grain or fruits, so 
that the inhabitants apply themselves to the 
breeding of cattle. Its various mines have before 
passed in review. The chief town is Berenguela, 

The jurisdiction of Lavicaja, or Laricaxa$ y ex- 
tends three hundred and fifty miles from east to 
west, and nearly one hundred from north to south. 
The temperature of the air is different in different 
parts. / 

That of Chucuito begins about sixty miles west of 
La Paz, and some part of it bordering upon the lake 
of Titiaca, that collection of waters is also, some- 
times, called the Lake of Chucuito. The chief town 
of the same name lies upon the borders of the lake. 
The extent of this district from north to south is 
about fifty miles. Its temperature is in general 
cold and very disagreeable, the frosts continuing 
one half of the year, and snow and hail being very 
common at all times. Though therefore there are 
very few esculent vegetable productions, cattle 
abound, and the inhabitants carry on a very be- 
neficial trade in salted .and dried beef. 

The last subordinate jurisdiction to La Paz is 
that of Pmcar Colla, sometimes called by the name 



£06 Puno, Santa Cruz de la Sierra* 



of its chief town Puno. This place suffered much 
in the insurrection of the year 1779, and lpst most 
of its wealthy inhabitants. This district borders 
southward on that of Chucuito, and partakes of 
the same temperature. It abounds in cattle and 
sheep, both of the European and American kinds. 
The Indians of the town weave their wool into 
cloth, which is sold to great advantage. 

Santa Cruz de la Sierra, or Holy Cross of the 
Mountains, is a government immediately depend- 
ant on the viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres. Its 
jurisdiction is of large extent, and comprehends 
the whole of the countries of the Chiquitos, the 
Moxos, and the Chiriguanos Indians, though 
many tribes of them, especially of the latter, do not 
acknowledge the Spanish dominion. The capital 
of the same name was first founded by Nuflo de 
Chaves, in 1558, one hundred and fifty miles more 
to the south than the city is now situated ; and 
sixty thousand Indians, mostly of the nation of 
the Moxos, were converted and reduced by him 
at that period without bloodshed. But Don Fran- 
cisco de Toledo removed the town to the place 
where it now stands, in 14° 20' S. latitude, at the 
foot of a chain of mountains, which bounds the 
country of the Chiquitos Indians to the north, 
and thence runs in a north-east direction to 
lake Xarayes. It was at first called San Lorenzo, 
and it still retains that name in some public in- 
struments. The reason of the removal has not 
been ascertained, nor did it please many of the 



Misque. 207 

Spanish inhabitants of the old town, some of 
whom remained amongst the Chiquitos, and 
formed a little town at the foot of a mountain, 
which they called St. Francis ; others retired 
amongst the Moxos, and some having embarked 
on the Mamore, fell down that river to the Ma- 
ragnon, and thence passed into Spain. The city- 
stands on the banks of the Guapay, which forms a 
semicircle round it. It is pretty large and popu- 
lous, but ill built. It was erected into a bishopric 
in 1605, but the bishop resides at the town of 
Misque. The houses are of stone, and are 
thatched with palm-leaves. 

The subordinate jurisdictions are, first: Santa 
Cruz, which is much intersected by hills; the 
climate is excellent, but the temperature of the 
air is hot. It produces rice, maize, cotton, sugar- 
canes, &c. and the bees afford quantities of wax 
and honey. 

Misque, the capital of which is called Misque 
Pocona. This town is very thinly inhabited, but 
there are several populous towns in other parts of 
this district. The temperature is hot, but not so 
much as to be inimical to the vine, which is cui-. 
tivated here, and produces a wine which is held 
in some esteem. The valley in which the chief 
town stands, is about twenty-five miles in cir- 
cumference, and produces all kinds of grain and 
fruit, as well as sugar-canes. The woods and 
mountains afford great quantities of honey and 



Moxos* 



wax, which constitute a principal branch of its 
commerce. 

The nominal limits of the province of Moxos or 
Mojos, are very extensive, and are reckoned to 
reach to the confines of Brazil, including an area 
of four hundred and fifty miles from north to 
south, and six hundred from east to west. There 
are a few Spanish settlements and missions scat- 
tered over this extensive country, and the Indian 
inhabitants are generally reckoned amongst the 
Indios jideles, or converted Indians,, subject to 
Spain ; but the sovereignty of Spain over them, is 
both precarious and of little value; whilst the 
country itself is not much explored or well known 
to Europeans. The air is hot and moist, on ac- 
count of the many rivers and the large forests this 
province contains. The soil is fertile, and abounds 
in most of the tropical productions. Its cocoa is 
particularly celebrated, and the chocolate made 
from it is esteemed to be of a finer flavour and 
more nourishing quality than any other. 

There are some missions which were established 
by the Jesuits amongst the Chiquitos Indians*, 
whose country extends to the east of Santa Cruz 

* Indios Chiquitos, or Little Indians, is a name given by the 
Spaniards to the inhabitants of this part of the country, not on ac- 
count of their stature being vdiminutive, which is not the case, for 
they are rather tall, well made, active, and resolute; but on ac- 
count of the doors of their houses or huts being made so remark- 
ably small, as if they were meant for the access of dwarfs alone. 



Lampa. 209 

tie la Sierra, towards the sources of the Paraguay. 
In the year 1732, there were seven towns esta- 
blished, containing about six hundred families 
each ; and they were supposed to be rapidly ad- 
vancing in prosperity. Their present condi- 
tion is not known, though it may be conjectured 
that the expulsion of the Jesuits will have occa- 
sioned here, as well as in other places, the decay 
of their establishments. Helms, in his table of 
the mines found in the different districts of the 
Viceroy alty of Buenos Ay res, which has been 
given in page 144, enumerates the districts of 
Lampa, Avangaro, and Carabaya, as appertaining 
to that jurisdiction. These districts are generally 
considered as belonging to the Viceroyalty of 
Lima, and as subordinate to the diocese of Cusco. 
Yet it is not improbable that a recent change may 
have annexed them to the government of Buenos 
Ayres, and a cursory view of them, in this place, 
will, in that case, leave no part of its extensive 
jurisdiction undescribed. 

The district of Lampa begins about ninety 
miles south of Cusco, and is the principal of all 
the provinces included under the name of Callao. 
Its plains are interrupted by gentle eminences, and 
both abound in good pasture ; it is accordingly 
remarkable for the number of its cattle, in which 
it carries on a very beneficial trade , but the air 
throughout is cold, and the only fruits of the 
earth it produces, are papas and quinoas. It has 

P 



210 ; Carabaya. 

several silver-mines, which are very rich and con- 
stantly worked. 

Carabaya begins one hundred and eighty miles, 
south-east of Cusco, and extends above one hun- 
dred and fifty miles. The greatest part of it is 
cold, but the vailies are warm enough to produce 
coca, fruit, grain, and pulse ; and it has sufficient 
pasture for cattle of all kinds. Here are several 
gold-mines, and the two famous lavatories # , called 

* Lavaderos, or lavatories, are places where gold is collected by 
washing the earth, and are formed and conducted in the followirg 
manner: — Where, in the judgment of the mineralogists, gold is 
supposed to exist, a pit is dug in the angles or corners of the gul- 
lies formed by the rains ; a stream of water is conducted through 
the pi£ and the earth is stirred and mixed with the current, tvhich 
carries part of it into another reservoir, very shallow, and formed 
like blacksmiths' bellows, with a descent to carry off the water 
with some rapidity : but the earth from out of the first pit is prin- 
cipally conveyed to the second by mules or hand labour, and in 
this it is stirred and mixed with the water by an iron hoolc, which, 
at the same time, serves to pick out the stones, which must be 
thrown out of the water that they may not interrupt the current of 
water, which ought to carry every thing along with it but the gold, 
which ks weight precipitates to the flat bottom of the reservoir 
amongst a fine black sand, in which it is scarcely more discernible 
than when mixed with the soil, unless it appears in sizeable grains 
which is often the case. Much gold, in dust, however, may be 
supposed to be carried off' by the stream for the want of proper 
precaution. After the water is turned off the black sand is taken 
up, and put into a large wooden flat receiver, in the middle of th 
bottom of which there is a hollow place, one third of an inch i 
depth. A little water is poured on the sand, and it is stirre 
gently about by the hand by a rotatory motion, so that all the eart 
and sand is thrown together at the edges, and the gold, which th 



Avangaro and Asilo-. 211 

Lavaderos de San Juan del Oro, and Pablo Coya ; 
also that of Monte de Ananea, six miles from the 
town of Poto, where there is an office for collect- 
ing the king's fifth. A river, which separates 
this district from the country of the wild Indians, 
is known to abound so much in gold, that the In- 
dians who live in subjection to the Spaniards, are 
sent out in companies from the towns in their re- 
spective districts to the banks of this river, where 
by washing the sand in small wells, which they 
dig for that purpose, they soon find a sufficient 
quantity of gold to pay the royal tribute. This 
kind of service they call chichina. This province 
has also several silver-mines which produce large 
quantities of that metal. In 1713, was discovered 
in the mountain of Ucuntaya, a stratum nearly of 
solid silver, which, though soon exhausted, yielded 
some millions, and hopes have been conceived from 
it of meeting with others whose riches will be of 
longer continuance. This jurisdiction is also fa- 
mous for the gold-mine called Aporama, which is 
very rich, and yields gold of three and twenty 
carats. 

The jurisdiction of Avangaro and Asilo is every 
where cold, and proper only for breeding of cattle, 
in which it carries on a considerable, trade. In 

motion must not be strong enough to move much, remains at the 
bottom in grains and dust, pure, clean, and of its natural colour; 
requiring no further refinement or preparation. The simplicity and 
cheapness of this method of collecting gold, gives it the preference 
over others, wherever it can be put in practice, 

P 2 



Mendoza. 



the north-east parts, which border on the district 
of Carabaya, there are both gold and silver-mines ; 
of the latter, few, if any, are worked. In some 
parts, thdse roots and grains which flourish in a 
cool air, as papas, quinqas, and canaguas, are pro- 
duced in abundance: of the two last, the natives 
make chica in the same manner as it is made from 
maize. 

The province of Cuyo, or Chiquito, the last por- 
tion of the viceroyalty that remains for considera- 
tion, contains the following towns : 

Mendoza, the capital, which is situated in 34 w 
20' S. latitude, and 6S° &5' W. longitude, at the 
foot of the Cordillera, and near the principal pass 
which leads over the mountains into Chili, and at 
the source of the small river Portillio, which helps 
to swell the lakes of Guanacache. This town 
was founded by Pedro Castillo, and received its 
name in honour of the then viceroy of Peru. It 
stands in a plain, and covers much ground, every 
house being surrounded by gardens, whose pic- 
turesque appearance make amends for the mean 
aspect of the buildings : as it is well supplied with 
water, by means of canals, no care is wanting to 
keep up the beauty and freshness of the gardens. 
The town contains about one hundred families, half 
of them Spaniards, and the other half mestices, 
besides slaves. It has a decent parish-church, 
two convents, and had a college of Jesuits. 

San Juan de la Froniera., about one hundred miles 
north-east of Mendoza. It stands, also on one of 



San Juan de la Frontera. 



9\3 



the rivers that run into the lakes of Gnanacache, 
In point of "extent and buildings, it is equal to 
Mendoza, and surpasses it in the number of its 
inhabitants. Its name is derived from having 
been the frontier-place of the kingdom of Chili, 
when Cuyo was a dependency of it. * 

San Luis de Loyala, or Oromonte, is one hundred 
and seventy miles south-east of Mendoza, and se- 
venty miles from the lakes of Guanacache. It is 
mean and small, not containing above twenty-five 
houses and fifty or sixty families. Yet it is re- 
markable that it contains a parish-church, a Do- 
minican convent, and a college of Jesuits. Uco 
is a small town, about seventy miles south of 
Mendoza^ but no ways remarkable. 



214 



CHAP. VI. 

First discovery of Rio de la Plata — Juan de So lis — 
Sebastian Cabot — Story of Austado and Miranda 
— Pedro de Mendoza— Foundation of Buenos 
Ay res — Juan de Ay o las — His inland expedition 
and death — Story of Maldonata — Martin de 
Irala — Don Alvarez — Abandonment and re-esta- 
blishment of Buenos Ay res — Excursions into the 
interior. 

f jp HOUGH Americus Vesputius, to whom the 
honour, more justly due to Columbus, of giv- 
ing his name to the continent of America, has de- 
volved, sailed along the coast of South America 
in the year 1501, as far as fifty-two degrees of 
south latitude, whence the cold and tempestuous 
weather compelled him to return to Portugal, yet 
in the imperfect account we have of this voyage, 
nothing occurs whence the actual discovery of Rio 
de la Plata can be attributed to him. It was in 
1516 that this took place by Juan Dias de Solis, 
grand pilot of Castile, who had sailed from Spain, 
to continue the discovery of Brazil. On the first 
of January in that year he entered a port, which he 
called Rio Genero, January River, which is the 
Rio Janeiro of the Portuguese, and took possession 
of it for the crown of Castile. Thence he conti- 



Expedition of Garcia, 215 

liued to range along the coast, till he found him- 
self in a bay, at the mouth of a great river, to 
which he gave his own name; but finding it full 
of rocks, shoals, and sand-banks, he durst not ven- 
ture far up the river in his vessel. Loth, however, 
to quit the place, without some knowledge of the 
river, he went along the western coast in his long- 
boat, till he discovered some Indians, who seemed 
to invite him on shore. Deceived by their ambi- 
guous demonstrations, he landed without any pre- 
caution, and accompanied by a very few men. In 
consequence of the imprudence of this step, he 
fell a sacrifice, together with nearly the whole of 
his party, to the treachery, or perhaps to the vin- 
dictive spirit of the Indians in revenge for some 
imaginary or real offence. De Solis, and those 
who were with him, were devoured by the savages 
within sight of those who had remained in the boat, 
or had taken refuge in it. The crew of his vessel, 
being deprived of their commander, returned to 
Spain ; and the discovery was for some years neg- 
lected or forgotten. 

The fate of some Portuguese, who, a few years 
after, penetrated into Paraguay by the way of Brazil, 
was equally lamentable. On the reports which be- 
gan to fill all Europe of the immense riches found 
by the Spaniards in Peru, Don Martin de Sosa, 
governor of Brazil, resolved, if possible, to share 
their good fortune; and he dispatched Alexis de 
Garcia, a man on whose courage and fidelity he 
could rely, on an expedition over land. Garcia 

p 4 



216 Expedition of 

took with him only his son, and three other Por- 
tuguese, with whom he reached the Paraguay. 
Here he met a great number of Indians, and en- 
gaged a thousand of them to follow him ; he then 
crossed the river, and penetrated to the frontiers 
of Peru, collecting some gold, and a considerable 
treasure in silver. On his return to that part of 
the Paraguay, where the Indians had joined him, 
he formed a design of making a settlement there, 
and with this view, he sent off two of his compa- 
nions with dispatches to the governor of Brazil, 
some ingots of gold and silver, an account of his 
journey, and the plan he had formed, remaining 
himself amongst the Indians, with his son, who 
was very young, and the other Portuguese. Scarcely, 
however, had his messengers left him, when the 
Indians massacred him and his companion, made 
his son a slave, and took possession of all his 
treasure. About sixty Portuguese and a large 
party of Brazilians, were sent, upon receipt of 
Garcia's dispatches, to join him, under the com- 
mand of George Sedenno ; but they were so har- 
rassed by the Indians in their progress, that, after 
losing their commander and several men, they fled 
towards the Parana, in crossing which, on their 
return, all the remaining Portuguese, and most of 
the Brazilians were drowned. 

Disheartened by these events, neither the Spa- 
niards nor Portuguese attempted any further con- 
quest of, or settlement i n , these regions ; till Sebastian 
Cabot, orGaboto, a Venetian, who, in 1496, had 



Sebastian Cabot. 



217 



discovered Newfoundland, and part of the conti- 
nent of North America, for Henry VII. of Eng- 
land, finding himself neglected by the English, 
went over to Spain, where the reputation he had 
acquired at an able navigator, procured him the 
situation of grand pilot of Castile. Magellan's 
ship, the Victory, had lately returned from th© 
first circumnavigation of the world; the success 
of which expedition induced some merchants of 
Seville to engage Cabot to attempt the same 
voyage with a fleet. Cabot, however, not choos- 
ing to act merely as the servant of a trading com- 
pany, provided himself wuth a commission from 
the emperor Charles V. which was signed the oth 
of March, 1525.* 

Cabot put to sea the first of April, 1526, being 
reinforced by a fifth vessel, which a private ad- 
venturer had fitted out at his own expence. Much 
blame is cast by the narrator of Cabot's expedition, 
on his conduct during the voyage, which termi- 
nated at the estuary of Rio de la Plata, then called 
Rio de Solis. On his arrival here, he determined 

* The substance of this commission was, that Cabot should have 
the command of a squadron of four ships, in quality of captain- 
general, and that Martin Mendez, who had been treasurer to Ma- 
gellan's squadron, and came home on board the Victory, should 
serve under him as his lieutenant : that he should sail through the 
newly discovered straights, then cross the South Sea, to the Mo- 
lucca Islands, and thence proceed on the discovery of Tharsis, 
Ophir, and Cipango : and that he should there load his ships with 
gold, silver, and other precious commodities of the country, and 
return to Europe.' 



218 Expedition of 

not to proceed farther, as well because he had not 
provisions enough for the long voyage of circum- 
navigation, which was the original object of the 
expedition, as because the crews of his ships began 
to mutiny. Having turned adrift, on a desert 
island, Martin Mendez, and two other commanders, 
who had blamed his conduct, and counteracted his 
authority, he resolved to proceed up the large 
river, at the entrance of which he found himself. 

Sailing up the river as far as the islands which 
lie opposite to Buenos Ayres, and which he named 
the islands of San Gabriel, he left his ships there, 
and proceeded in his boats through the channel be- 
tween the islands and the continent to the right. 
Meeting with a little river on the right, he called it 
Rio de San Salvador, built a small fort on the banks 
of it, and then detached some soldiers, under 
the command of Juan Alvarez Ramon, up the 
river Uraguay, which he took for the true Rio de 
Solis. 

Ramon, after three days navigation, having the 
misfortune to run aground on a sand-bank, was 
killed by the Indians with some of his people; the 
rest escaped by swimming, and made the best of 
their way back to Cabot, who then returned to the 
islands of San Gabriel. 

Having now discovered his mistake, he sailed 
about thirty leagues up the Paraguay, and built a 
fort at the mouth of the river Zarcaranna, the name 
of which was changed by the Spaniards into that 
of Rio Tercero. This fort he called the Fort of the 



!l 



Sebastian Cabot. 



219 



Holy Ghost ; and leaving a garrison in it, he pro- 
ceeded up the river to the confluence of the Pa- 
rana with the Paraguay, when rinding himself be- 
tween two large rivers, he entered that which ap- 
peared the broadest, which was the Parana; but 
finding that it turned to the east, he returned to 
the confluence for fear of advancing too far into 
Brazil, and sailed up the Paraguay, where some 
Indians attacked him, killed twenty-five of his 
men, and took three prisoners. This blow was, 
however, soon returned by Cabot, who attacked 
the Indians in his turn, and killed a considerable 
number of them. A large booty in gold and 
silver was made ; and it is supposed that these 
Indians were the same who had massacred Alexis 
de Garcia, and the treasure they possessed was 
that which he had brought from Peru. As Cabot 
knew nothing of this, he looked upon all the gold 
and silver he had taken, as the produce of the 
mines in the neighbourhood ; and no longer 
doubted of it, when some other Indians, whom 
the terror of his arms, or the courteousness of his 
behaviour, had induced to enter into an alliance 
with him, not only supplied him with provisions, 
but also gave him bars of silver in exchange for 
Spanish goods of very little value. He therefore 
bestowed the name of Rio de la Plata on this 
river; a name which has proved the source of 
many mistakes to those who did not know the true 
meaning of it. 

Just as Cabot was preparing to return to his 



220 Diego Garcias. Calderon. 

ships, with the treasure he had amassed, a Portu- 
guese captain, named Diego Garcias, who had 
been sent by the governor of Brazil to reconnoitre 
the country, and take possession of it for the 
crown of Portugal, arrived at his camp. 

As Garcias on the one hand was not strong 
enough to execute his commission in spite of the 
Spaniards, whom he did not expect to find in such 
numbers on the banks of the Paraguay, so Cabot, 
on the other, reflecting that he was himself too 
weak to prevent the Portuguese from making 
themselves masters of the country, in case they re- 
turned with superior forces, engaged Garcias to 
accompany him to the Fort of the Holy Ghost, 
whence after a few days he set out for Brazil. 

From this circumstance Cabot considered his 
presence necessary in Paraguay, and therefore, in- 
stead of returning to Spain, as he had intended, 
he dispatched Fernand Calderon, whom he had 
appointed treasurer to his fleet in the room of 
Mendez, with all the silver he had collected, and a 
letter for the emperor, giving an account of every 
thing he had seen and done ; pointing out the best 
measures for securing the country to the crown of 
Castile; and requesting succours for that purpose. 

Calderon reached Spain in the beginning of the 
year 1«527 5 and met with a very favourable recep- 
tion from the emperor. The sight of the silver, 
being, it is said, the first brought from America to 
Spain, dazzled him to such a degree, that he not 
only approved of every thing Cabot had done, but 



• Story of Hurt ado and Miranda. 221 

ordered a great armament to be prepared for that 
country. Two years, however, having elapsed 
without Cabot's hearing any thing of the good 
dispositions of the emperor, he thought it his 
duty to return to Spain, lest any longer delay 
might give the Portuguese a desire, and afford 
them an opportunity, of returning to Paraguay. 
Having therefore nominated Nuno de Lara as 
governor of the Fort of the Holy Ghost in his 
absence, and left him one hundred and twenty 
men, and all the provisions he could collect, he 
set out to join his squadron, and immediately put 
to sea. 

A tale is here interwoven in the history of the 
first establishment on the banks of the Paraguay, 
which is so much in the romantic and chivalrous 
taste of the Spanish literature of that period, that 
its historical truth has been doubted, and its simi- 
larity in some points with more ancient tales has 
been considered as invalidating its authenticity. 
It has, however, been recorded, and repeated by 
every historian of South America, and is in itself 
an interesting episode, relieving the dryness of 
chronological detail, and varying the scene from 
public and general events to those of a domestic 
and personal nature. As such it w r ould scarcely 
be excusable to omit it. 

Lara seeing himself surrounded by nations from 
whom he could expect no respect but in propor- 
tion as he could command it, applied himself to 
the cultivation of a good understanding with one 



222 Story of 

of the nearest and most powerful tribes, the Timbuez. 
His success in this, however, soon proved fatal to 
him, from an unsuspected source, and in a manner 
little to be expected. Mangora, the cacique of the 
Timbuez, in the course of the frequent visits he 
paid to Lara, became enamoured of Lucia Mi- 
randa, a Spanish lady, the wife of Sebastian 
Hurtado, one of the principal officers of the fort. 
It was not long before she perceived it, and 
knowing what she had to fear from a savage, with 
whom it was the commander's interest to live upon 
good terms, she did all that lay in her power to 
prevent being seen by Mangora; and to guard 
against any surprise or violence. Mangora, on 
his side, contriving how to get her out of the 
fort, and within his power, often pressed her 
husband Hurtado to pay him a visit, and to bring 
his wife with him. Hurtado, to whom Miranda 
had confided the passion Mangora had , conceived 
for her, and her apprehensions, with a policy 
suited to the situation of circumstances, in de- 
clining the invitations of the Indian chief, alleged 
that a Castilian soldier could never leave his camp 
or garrison without the permission of his com- 
mander, nor could with honour ask that permis- 
sion, except to fight and conquer his enemies. 
The cacique was not duped by this evasion, but 
soon perceived that, for the accomplishment of 
his purpose, the removal of Hurtado was a neces- 
sary step. 

Whilst brooding over the means of fulfilling his 



Hurtach and Miranda. 223 

desires, he learnt that Hurtado had been dis- 
patched, with another officer called Ruiz Mos- 
chera and fifty soldiers, to collect provisions. 
Looking on this, therefore, as a favourable oppor- 
tunity, as it not only removed the husband, but 
weakened the garrison, by which the wife might 
be expected to be protected, he posted four thou- 
sand picked men in a marsh in the neighbourhood 
of the fort, and set out for it with thirty others 
loaded with refreshments. On his arrival at the 
gates, he sent word to Lara, that, hearing how 
much he was in want of provisions, he Was come 
with enough to serve him till the ir§turn of the 
convoy. Lara received the treacherous cacique 
with the greatest demonstrations of friendship, 
and insisted upon entertaining him and his fol- 
lowers. This was what Mangora had expected, 
and he had accordingly given his men instructions 
how to behave, and appointed signals for those he 
had posted in the marsh. 

The entertainment lasted till the night was far 
advanced; when the Spaniards rising to break up, 
Mangora gave his attendants the appointed signal. 
Upon this, giving the Spaniards sufficient time to 
retire, the Indians set fire to the magazines of the 
fort. The alarm was immediately spread, and 
most of the Spanish officers were dispatched as 
they rose from their beds upon hearing the cry of 
fire; the rest were killed in their sleep: and the 
four thousand men, posted in the marsh, having 
at the same time been let into the fort, it was 



224 Story of 

immediately filled with confusion and slaughter. 
The governor, however, revenged himself upon 
the perfidious cacique; ' for, though severely- 
wounded, having espied Mangora, he rushed 
upon him, and run him through the body, but 
was himself immediately after overpowered and 
slain by the Indians. 

Of all the Spanish inhabitants, none now re- 
mained alive but the unfortunate Miranda, the 
innocent cause of so bloody a catastrophe, four 
other women, and as many little children, who 
were all bound, and brought before Siripa, the 
brother and^tiiccessor of the late cacique. At the 
sight of Miranda^s beauty, Siripa immediately 
conceived the same passion for her that had proved 
so fatal to his brother, and ordered her to be 
unbound, relinquishing the other prisoners to his 
attendants. He then told her, that she must not 
consider herself as a captive, and solicited her 
favour with a gentleness and address that love 
alone could have inspired in the heart of a savage. 
He compared the situation of her husband and 
himself, one a forlorn fugitive in the forests of 
an hostile country, the other the chief of a power- 
ful nation, possessed of luxuries and riches. The 
virtue, however, of Miranda was proof both 
against persuasion and against the fear of death 
and slavery, and Siripa's offers were rejected with 
scorn, and with a degree of acrimony intended to 
excite his rage, and impel him to order her imme- 



r 



Hurt ado and Miranda. 225 



tJiate destruction, by which she hoped to~ escape 
the infamy of violation. 

Her behaviour, however, had a very different 
effect, and tended more to heighten the passion 
of the cacique, by increasing his esteem, or en^ 
llancing the value of his expected conquest from 
the difficulty attending it. He treated her with 
moderation and lenity, and shewed her more 
civility and respect than could well have been 
Expected from a savage, little inured to controul 
his inclinations, or respect the chastity of the 
sex. 

In the mean time, Hurtado, on his return with 
the convoy of provisions, was greatly surprised 
to find nothing but a heap of ruins, where Cabot's 
fort had stood. He soon learnt that his faithful 
wife was a captive to the cacique of the Timbuez ; 
and, with an imprudence and temerity impelled by 
his conjugal affection, he immediately repaired to 
the place of her residence. Siripa soon learnt the 
arrival of Hurtado, and, indignant at his pre- 
sumption, as well as actuated with inveterate 
hatred towards the man, who alone possessed the 
affections of Miranda, and was* as he conceived, 
the sole obstacle to his happiness, he instantly 
seized him, and ordered him to be bound to a 
tree, and pierced to the heart by the arrows of 
his subjects. 

The power of beauty here again prevailed ; and 
the ardent intercessions of Miranda soothed the 
savage into a remission of her husband's sentence. 

Q 



226 Cabot's fort abandoned. 

Hurtado was unbound, but he was retained as 3 
captive. Tormented with various passions, Siripa^ 
at times, seemed determined to sacrifice the hus- 
band to his jealous rage ; but at others, the desire 
of propitiating Miranda so far overcame his en- 
mity, that Hurtado was even permitted to see his 
wife. Their visits to each other became by- 
degrees more frequent and more unrestrained ; 
but one fatal interdiction bereft them of happi- 
ness. The cacique warned them against any in- 
dulgence in caresses that might awaken his dor- 
mant envy. Vain, however, were the considera- 
tions of prudence ; vain the many resolutions they 
formed to abstain from the enjoyment of every 
conjugal rite. Restriction but served to increase 
desire, and. one fatal moment deluded them into 
the threatened destruction. Siripa surprised them 
in each other's arms; and, with ungovernable 
rage, at their contempt of his authority, and this 
outrage upon his feelings, he ordered them both 
to instant execution f Hurtado to the punishment 
from which he had before escaped, and Miranda 
to the flames. 

Moschera, who remained to command the few 
surviving Spaniards, repaired Cabot's fort; but 
finding at last that it was to no purpose to con- 
tinue there, as the animosity between the Spa- 
niards and Indians was become irreconcileable, on 
account of the treachery of the latter, he aban- 
doned the fort, and embarked with the remnant 
of his garrison on board a small vessel which Cabot 



Mendoza appointed governor. 227 

had left behind him, with which he proceeded to 
the coast of Brazil, and afterwards to the island of 
St. Catherine, where he formed an establishment, 
from which, however, the Portuguese soon ex- 
pelled him. 

The court of Spain had not, in the mean time, 
lost sight of Paraguay; and preparations were 
made for forming a powerful settlement on the 
Rio de la Plata, greatly surpassing such as had 
been made to establish colonies in any other part 
of America. 

Don Pedro de Mendoza, great cup-bearer to the 
emperor, was appointed commander in chief of 
the expedition, adelentado, and governor, and 
captain -general of all the countries that might be 
discovered as far as the South Sea, on condition 
that he should transport thither, in two voyages, 
one thousand men and one hundred horses, with 
arms, ammunition, and provisions for one year, 
the whole at his own expence. He had permis- 
sion to make establishments in any part which he 
might think proper, of the lands he might discover, 
and was gratified with a pension for life of two 
thousand ducats. It was further stipulated, that, 
after residing for three years in his government, 
he might return to Spain, and name a governor 
to succeed him, who should be entitled to the 
same prerogatives ; that, though according to 
the laws, the kings or Indian caciques taken in 
war were to pay their ransom into the exchequer, 
these ransoms should be divided between- the 

Q2 



22 S Mendoza* s armament, 

governor and the troops, after deducting one- 
tenth for the use of his majesty ; and that in case 
any treasures belonging to caciques killed in war 
should fall into the hands of the Spaniards, they 
should be equally divided between his majesty 
and the governor. 

Orders were given to equip, at Cadiz, a fleet 
of fourteen ships ; and Don Juan Osorio, an Ita- 
lian, who had distinguished himself greatly in 
'the wars of Italy, took upon himself the command 
of it, in quality of lieutenant to Mendoza. These 
great preparations, and the reports that had been 
spread of the riches of the countries watered by 
the Rio de la Plata, attracted so many persons, 
even of the most ancient nobility of Spain, that 
the first armament, instead of five hundred, which 
was the number originally proposed, consisted of 
twelve hundred men, amongst whom were thirty 
noblemen, all the eldest sons of their families, 
and several Flemish officers. In fact, no Spanish 
colony boasts of such illustrious names amongst 
its founders, and the posterity of many of them 
still subsist in Paraguay, especially in the capital 
of that province. 

The fleet put to sea in the month of August, 
1535; but after passing the line, were dispersed 
by a severe storm. The ships commanded by the 
adelentado's brother, Don Diego de Mendoza, 
and a few others, reached the islands of St. Ga- 
briel in safety; but that which carried the ade- 
lentado himself and all the rest, were obliged t© 



Buenos Ayres founded. 229 

take refuge in the harbour of Rio Janeiro. In 
this place Osorio was assassinated, and it was 
supposed, by the contrivance of the adelentado, 
and many dissentions prevailed in the fleet on the 
occasion; exasperated at the suspected iniquity of 
their commander, many resolved to remain in Bra- 
zil, and others were preparing to return to Spain ; 
when the adelentado, having received notice of 
their design, put to sea immediately, and arrived 
safe at the islands of St. Gabriel, where the whole 
of the fleet was now assembled. 

From this station Don Pedro, sent Don San- 
chez del Campo to look out for a convenient spot 
for the projected establishment ; and this officer 
fixed upon the present scite of the city of Buenos 
Ayres ; where Mendoza immediately ordered the 
plan of a town to be traced out. Upon this, 
every man, without distinction, immediately put 
his hand to work, and in a short time, they w^ere 
all conveniently lodged. 

But it was not long before the natives of the 
country gave the new comers great reason to sus-. 
pect that they were no ways disposed to favour 
t'ne establishment; and, as provisions began to 
grow scarce, the adelentado sent out his brother 
with a detachment of three hundred men, with 
instructions to obtain a supply by force, if he 
could not procure any by fair means. The second 
day of their departure they fell in with a body of 
three thousand Indians, who were advantageously 
posted behind a little river and a marsh ; the Spa-* 

Q 3 



5230 Famine at Buenos Ayres, 

niards attacked them, but were repulsed, and the 
Indians routed and pursued them. Not above 
one hundred and fifty Spaniards escaped the field 
of battle, of these almost one-half died of fatigue, 
or of their wounds, during the retreat, and Don 
Diego de Mendoza lost his life on the occasion. 

The scarcity, which had for some time past pre- 
vailed at Buenos Ayres, now became a dreadful 
famine ; and Don Pedro, departed on an expedi- 
tion up the river in quest of some relief against the 
famine, which had actually killed about two 1km-, 
dred of the settlers. On this excursion, stopping 
to consider the ruins of Cabot's fort, he found its 
situation so advantageous, that he built a new 
fort there, under the name of Good Hope, though 
some authors call it by that of Corpus Christi., 
His chief motive for making this establishment, 
was the expectation of obtaining supplies of pro- 
vision from the Timbuez, whom Don Juan de Ayo- 
las, his lieutenant, had succeeded in reconciling 
with the Spaniards. Remaining himself at this 
spot, he sent Ayolas to continue his navigation, 
up the river, and gave him three barks and fifty 
men for that purpose. With Ayolas, went like- 
wise, by permission of Mendoza, Don Domingo 
Martinez de Irala, and some other gentlemen ; 
and the party were recommended to transmit 
within four months, an account of their transac- 
tions and discoveries, if they did not themselves, 
return within that time. 

At Buenos Ayres the famine became very pres- 



Story of Maldonata. 23 1 

sing ; and the Indians waylaid all who sought for 
relief in the adjacent fields. Hence, a prohibition, 
under the penalty of death, was laid upon any 
excursion beyond the limits of the garrison, and 
to inforce its observation, guards were placed at 
all the outlets into the country. This circum- 
stance has given rise to another romantic tale, 
which, although improbable, has received the 
sanction of the most authentic writers. A wo- 
man, named Maldonata, having eluded the vigi- 
lance of the guards, and wandering for some time 
about the country, at length entered a cavern, 
where she was startled by the sight of a lioness, 
who, however, attempted no outrage, and was 
soon perceived by Maldonata, to be upon the 
point of littering, and in great agony. Maldo- 
nata, with a courage proportioned to the desperate 
situation she was in, approached; and assisting na- 
ture, the lioness was soon delivered of her burthen. 
The benefit she had thus bestowed was repaid by 
the lioness, who shared between Maldonata and 
her whelps, the abundant supply of food which 
her daily excursions procured. She thus lived in 
the cavern till the whelps had attained the strength 
necessary to seek their own subsistence, when they 
^disappeared, as did the lioness, no longer attracted 
to the cavern by the instinct of maternal affec-- 
tion. Quitting, therefore, her asylum, Maldonata 
was again reduced to ramble through the woods 
and deserts, and soon fell in with some Indians, 
by whom she was made a slave. At length, 

q 4? 



239 Expedition of Ayolm. 

however, retaken by the Spaniards, she was 
brought back to Buenos Ayres, where Don Fran- 
cisco de Galan commanded, in the absence of Men- 
doza. Severity and cruelty were the character- 
istics of Galan, and, as Maldonata had infringed 
the prohibition above alluded to, he condemned 
her to the penalty of death, and of such a death as 
none but a tyrannic and ferocious disposition 
could invent. He ordered her to be taken into 
the country, tied naked to a tree, and left there 
to become the prey of the wild beasts, or to perish 
by hunger. Two days after, the party that had 
executed the orders of the commander, were, sent 
to see what had become of her, and, to their great 
surprise, they found her alive and unhurt, though 
surrounded by wild beasts, who were kept at a. 
distance by a lioness, who was lying at her feet. 
This was the same lioness that had been relieved 
by Maldonata in the cavern. She, related the. 
story to the soldiers, who unbound her, and took 
her to Buenos Ayres. This double wonderful 
preservation of Maldonata procured her pardon 
from Galan, who would have been considered as 
opposing himself against the Providence of Hea- 
ven, had he attempted to inforce the rigour of his 
sentence. 

The famine which raged at Buenos Ayres, was 
sometime after, in some measure relieved, by Don 
Gonzalez de Mendoza, who went to Brazil in, 
quest of a supply, and returned with a cargo. 



Death of Mendoza. $3$ 

Jle was soon followed by two others, with Mos- 
chera and his colony from St. Catherine. 

Don Juan de Ayolas on his side, pushed up the 
river, as far as a place he called Puerto de la Can T 
del aria, or Candlemass Port, where he was assured 
by the Guaranis Indians, that by marching oyer-* 
land to the westward, he would meet with na- 
tions that had a great deal of gold and silver. 
He resolved to go in quest of them, and he left 
his vessels at Candlemass Port, under the com- 
mand of Don Domingo Martinez de Irala, to whom 
he delegated all the authority he himself possessed, 
and to whom he gave directions to wait there six 
months for his return, at the expiration of which, 
if he heard nothing from him, Irala might talcc 
what course he thought proper. 

But Irala remained at Candlemass Port only 
four months, and no news arriving from Ayolas, 
Mendoza became very uneasy, as Ayolas was 
the officer on whom, and deservedly, he placed 
the most confidence. He, therefore, dispatched 
Don Gonzales de Mendoza and Don Juan de Sa~ 
lazar, in search of Ayolas. 

A short time after this, Mendoza embarked for 
Spain, but died on the passage. He left Galan 
in the command of Buenos Ay res, and named 
Ayolas his successor in the government, having also 
appointed him his heir, in the event of his death. 

When the news of Mendoza's death reached 
Spain, there were two ships, in the port of Seville, 
fitted out on his account, which sailed from Cadiz, 



234 Assumption founded. 

under Alphonso Calrera, towards the end of 1537, 
in company with a galleon sent by the emperor, 
loaded with arms and ammunition, under the 
command of Don Lopez de Aguiar. Calrera 
carried out a commission, appointing Don Juan 
de Ayolas, governor and captain-general of the 
province of Rio de la Plata. But this expedition 
did not reach Buenos Ayres till 1539. 

In this interval, Gonzales deMendoza and Sala- 
zar reached Candlemass Port, without being able 
to meet with any intelligence, respecting Ayolas ; 
but they were informed, that Irala was amongst 
the savages of the neighbourhood, where they ac- 
cordingly found him; and, in conjunction with 
him, they made many inquiries and excursions in! 
search of Ayolas, but ail to no purpose. They, 
therefore, fell down the Paraguay, to the mouth 
of the northern branch of the Pilcomayo, oppo- 
site to which, on the eastern bank, they built a 
fort, which they called Assumption, and which, 
under the same name, soon grew into a city, and 
became the capital of the province. 

Mendoza remained here, whilst Salazar went 
down to Buenos Ayres, which he found reduced to 
the last extremity. Famine had then advanced to 
its greatest height ; and Galan was universally 
detested by the inhabitants. Salazar's arrival gave 
them great joy, which was considerably augmented 
by the arrival of the three vessels from Spain, 
under Calrera, which came to an anchor there 
two or three days after. As Salazar reported that 



Hostilities with the Indians. 



235 



there was no scarcity of provisions at Assumption, 
Galan and Calrera resofved to go thither them- 
selves to obtain a supply ; but they were greatly 
disappointed to find a similar scarcity prevailing 
there, from the ravages of the locusts in the 
neighbourhood* which had appeared after Salazar 
had left the place ; so that Galan found himself 
under the necessity of immediately returning with- 
out the hoped-for supply. 

On his arrival at the Fort of Good Hope, he 
was informed that a tribe of Indians in the neigh- 
bourhood, called Caracoas, were accused of having 
favoured the enemies of the Spaniards. Without 
examining whether the charge was true or false, 
he displayed his vindictive and treacherous dispo- 
sition, by surprising the Caracoas, after he had 
treated them in the most friendly manner; and 
setting fire to their villages, he carried off a great 
number of their women and children, whom he 
distributed amongst his soldiers. He then re-em- 
barked, leaving Don Antonio de Mendoza in the 
command of the fort, with one hundred soldiers. 
This perfidious conduct immediately awakened all 
the ancient animosity of the Timbuez against the 
Spaniards; and, employing treachery in their turn, 
they succeeded, upon some plausible pretences, in. 
inducing Antonio de Mendoza to give them the 
assistance of half his garrison upon an expedition 
they pretended to undertake. The second day 
after this detachment had left the fort, Mendoza was 
first apprised of their fate, no one having escaped to 



S36 Auolas lulled by the Indians. 

relate it, by the return of the Indians, who invested 
the fort with the most hideous shouts. Mendoza 
made a sally, but lost his bravest men, and was him- 
self severely wounded. All hopes were nearly at an 
end, when two Spanish brigantines, from Buenos 
Ayres, anchored before the fort; by which timely 
succour, the Timbuez were obliged to retire with 
considerable loss. Some days after, Mendoza 
dying of his wounds, the officer who succeeded 
him, seeing no appearance of being able to pre- 
serve the Fort of Good Hope, demolished it, and 
embarked the miserable remains of the garrison on 
board the brigantines, 

Irala, in the mean time, continued his exertions 
to obtain some intelligence of the governor, and 
at length met with an Indian, one of the nation 
called Chanes, inhabitants of the plains, who gaye 
him an account that Ayolas having obtained a rein- 
forcement from the cacique of the Chanes, had pe- 
netrated to the frontiers of Peru, and had returned 
to the country of the Chanes loaded with gold and 
silver. Proposing to return to the place where he 
had left his vessels on the Paraguay, a number of 
Indians were appointed by the friendly cacique of 
the Chanes to assist in the conveyance of his trea- 
sure, amongst whom was the Indian who gave 
this relation. When he came to the place, how- 
ever, his vessels were not to be found, and a few 
days afterwards, being entangled in some marshes, 
the Spaniards and their friends were attacked by 
the Payaguas, a tribe that has been described in. 



Irala acts as governor. S3? 

the blackest colours, by the Spanish writers; all 
the Spaniards, and many of the Indians, were 
killed, and the narrator, with the rest of his coun- 
trymen, were made slaves of. Ayolas, who had 
escaped amongst the bushes, was, however, soon 
discovered, taken alive, and put to a cruel death. 
This Indian had made his escape from theJPaya- 
guas, and had been wandering about for some 
time in search of the Spaniards, to give them this 
intelligence. 

Irala was prevented from chastising the Paya- 
guas, by the overflowing of the rivers, and by the 
sickness of his men ; and he returned to Assump- 
tion, which began to wear the appearance of a 
city, and where most of his officers had taken up 
their residence. These were called in the dis- 
patches of the court, the conquerors of Paraguay ; 
they formed for a long time the council of the 
province, and the emperor, in most of his letters 
to the governors, ordered them to undertake 
nothing without their advice. Ayolas having de- 
legated his authority to Irala, for the time he should 
be absent, the latter considered himself as governor 
of the whole province till the emperor's pleasure 
was known. 

Buenos Ay res was, in the interim, losing its 
inhabitants from day to day; and the last provi- 
sions brought from Spain having been consumed, 
a third famine ensued; and Galan and Calrera pro- 
ceeded to Assumption, with as many of the inha-* 
bitants as could find room in their vessels 



23 S . Buenos Ayres abandoned. 

Calrera here produced an Imperial Cednlla, by 
which he was enjoined, in case the person who 
might have been appointed governor of Rio de la 
Plata, by Don Pedro de Mendoza, should be dead 
without nominating a successor, and the founders 
and conquerors of the province had not themselves 
put one in his place, to assemble them for the elec- 
tion of a governor. This commission was pro- 
ceeded in, and Irala was almost unanimously ap- 
pointed governor in the room of Ayolas. Calrera, 
before he dismissed the electors, proposed the 
abandonment of Buenos Ayres ; which was 
strongly supported by the new governor, and at 
length determined upon. Irala's motive, on this 
occasion, has been supposed to have been the am- 
bition of rendering himself independent; as upon 
the abandonment of the establishment at the 
mouth of the river, no orders from court could 
reach him but with great difficulty, and very tar- 
dily, whilst, being at so great a distance in the in- 
terior of the country, he might easily find pre- 
tences for eluding them, should they prove any 
way disagreeable to him. This resolution was 
immediately carried into effect, and Buenos Ayres 
was completely evacuated in 1539, and its inhabit- 
ants transferred to Assumption. Amongst the 
transmigrants were the crew of a Genoese vessel, 
which, on her voyage to Peru, with a cargo worth 
fifty thousand ducats, having put into Rio de la 
Plata, had been wrecked on a sand -bank near 
Buenos Ayres. On board this ship were several 



Alvarez appointed governor. 239 

Italian gentlemen, whose posterity still exist in 
Paraguay. The names of the principal were, 
Aquino, Rizo, and Trochi. Assumption was 
now surrounded by a palisade, a police esta- 
blished, and its inhabitants were found to amount 
to six hundred men besides women and children. 

In the same year, on the occasion of an in- 
tended grand religious procession, at which all the 
Indians of the neighbourhood were invited to 
assist, a discovery was made of the intention of 
the Indians to fall upon and exterminate all the 
Spaniards: in consequence of which all the prin- 
cipal chiefs were seized and hung ; and the singular 
conclusion of this occurrence was the real or pre- 
tended acknowledgement of the Indians, that they 
deserved this treatment, accompanied with an offer 
of wives to such of the Spaniards as were unpro- 
vided with any, which was accepted ; these inter- 
marriages were the first that occurred, and the 
Indian women proving fruitful, and agreeable in 
their persons and manners, induced many other 
Spaniards afterwards to contract alliances of the 
same kind. 

In the mean time the emperor engaged Don Al- 
varez Nunez de Vera Cabec^a de Vaca, to furnish 
.the expences of another armament for Rio de la 
Plata, and appointed him adelentado*, and go- 

* The dignity of adelentado is merely civil, and entitles the person 
invested with it to the first place only in the council for civil affairs, 
and in the courts of justice ; so that in the army, an adelentado may 
act as a subaltern officer. 



§40 Alvarez proceeds overland. 

Pernor and captain-general of that; province. It is I 
peculiarity in the erriperor*s instructions to Don AU 
varez, that he should not, above all things, tolerate 
any lawyers or attornies in his government. As st)ori 
as Dori Alvarez had received his dispatches, he re- 
paired to Seville, where he purchased two ships/ 
and two caravels, and embarked on board the four 
vessels, with four hundred soldiers. From Seville 
they proceeded to Cadiz, and sailed from that 
port in the beginning of November, 1540. After: 
touching both at the Canary and the Cape Verde 
islands, they arrived at the island of St. Catherine, 
in March 1541. Some Spaniards who came to St. 
Catherine's, in an open boat, having deserted from 
Buenos Ayres, gave him an account of the unset- 
tled state of affairs in the province; of the misery 
to which Buenos Ayres had been reduced ; of the 
death of Ayolas, and that Irala had been acknow- 
ledged governor of the whole province. Upon 
this, Alvarez judged his presence so immediately 
necessary at Assumption, that he resolved to pro- 
ceed thither by the shortest road, and to make tha 
best of his way in a direct line across the country. 

After leaving orders with Don Pedro Cabec,a 
de Vaca, to set sail for Buenos Ayres with the 
first fair wind; he set out with two hundred and 
fifty men, on the 8th of November, to join a party 
he had dispatched before for the river Habucu. 
After nineteen days' march, during which his 
little army were often obliged to open themselves- 
3 road by dint; of labour, they began to want 



A?" rites at Assumption . 241 

provisions ; but arriving soon after amongst the 
Guaranis, they were supplied with all manner of 
provisions. He took possession of their country 
for the crown of Spain, and gave it the name of 
Provincia del Campo ; and he named another 
part which he passed through, after his family, 
Provincia de Vera, but these appellations exist no 
longer. 

After this Don Alvarez bent his march towards 
the Iguazu, in order to embark there, and fall 
down to its junction with the Parana. On his en- 
tering the Parana he lost one of his men, by the 
oversetting of a canoe, in one of the eddies or 
whirlpools, formed by the confluence of the two 
rivers, which he regretted the more, as till then he 
had not lost a single man, in his long and painful 
march from the sea-coast. On the Parana such of 
his men as were no longer in a condition to proceed 
by land, were embarked on rafts, with fifty men to 
defend them, in case they should be attacked ; and 
he went forward himself, with the rest, in a more 
direct line. At length he arrived at Assumption, 
on the llth of March, lo42. Irala received him 
at the head of the garrison. Don Alvarez then 
produced his commission, and Irala saluted him 
as adelentado, governor, and captain-general of Rio 
de la Plata. Don Alvarez, on his part, confirmed 
Irala in his post of king's lieutenant, and all the 
officers of justice in theirs, and every thing passed, 
in appearance, to the greatest satisfaction of all 
parties. The Spaniards, whom Don Alvarez had 

It 



242 Expeditions of Alvarez 

left to follow him on rafts, did not arrive till a 
month afterwards. They were attacked by some 
Indians, who attempted to draw the rafts on shore, 
and would, perhaps, have succeeded in the at- 
tempt, if a Christian cacique had not come to the 
assistance of the travellers with all his warriors. 

Don Alvarez knew nothing of the evacuation of 
Buenos Ay res till his arrival at Assumption, when 
his first care was to take proper measures for 
its re-establishment. He sent four brigantines 
thither, and omitted nothing to put a place, 
whose importance he was thoroughly convinced 
©f, in a respectable situation. He zealously en-* 
deavoured to gain the arTections of the neighbour- 
ing Indians, and to convert them to the Catholic 
faith. In the next place, he applied himself to 
repress the insolence of some Indian tribes, who 
were constantly committing hostilities against the 
Spaniards. He began by the Agazes, or Algazes, 
who lived to the east of the Paraguay, above As- 
sumption. These savages are described as of the 
tallest stature, of a very treacherous disposition > 
and to the last degree fierce and inhuman. He 
eonciliate.d these and other nations by his insinua- 
tion and address, or awed them into subjection by 
his firmness and conduct. The Guaranis, and 
some other tribes, who had submitted to the 
Spaniards, made heavy complaints to him of the 
Guaycurus; and finding, upon inquiry, that they 
were well-founded, he took the field, in conjunc- 
tion with the Guaranis, in July, 1542. He had 



against the Indians. 243 

four hundred Spanish soldiers, and his Indian 
allies amounted to ten thousand. The Guaycurus 
were de bated, and Don Alvarez marched back to 
Assumption, with four hundred prisoners. The 
Guaycurus afterwards sued for peace; various 
other Indian tribes submitted themselves to the 
authority of the Spaniards, and Don Alvarez's 
conduct is highly extolled in gaming* their good 
opinion, and inducing them to live on a friendly 
footing with the Spanish inhabitants. 

Don Alvarez next was chiefly employed in 
taking measures for assisting the Spaniards whom 
he had sent by sea from St. Catherine to Buenos 
Ay res; and, for this purpose, he dispatched two 
brigantines, loaded with all manner of civil and 
military stores, and manned by one hundred men, 
under the command of Don Gonzalez de Mendoza. 
He then sent a detachment of troops against th$ 
A gazes, who suffered themselves to be surprised, 
and lost a great number of men; fourteen pri- 
soners taken from them were hanged. Upon this 
the whole nation submitted to all the conditions he 
thought proper to prescribe, especially when they 
heard of his having taken another measure, which 
spread his reputation all over the country. 

He had received intelligence that the son of the 
unfortunate Alexis Garcia was still a captive amongf- 
the Indians, who had killed his father, and car- 
ried off his treasures; and he sent several times to 
request his release, but those savages butchered 
all his messengers, except one, whom they sent 

R 2 



244 Fire at Assumption. 

back to acquaint him, that if he dared to presen 
himself before them, they would treat him as they 
had done his messengers. Don Alvarez, incensed 
at this affront, ordered his nephew, Don Alphonso 
Requelmi, to pick out three hundred Spaniards, 
and a thousand Indians, to march against them. 
Requelmi attacked and defeated them, killed three 
thousand, and made four thousand prisoners. 

Don Alvarez's joy, for the success of this expe- 
dition, was soon troubled by the arrival of four 
brigantines from Buenos Ayres, with Pedro Cabeca 
de Vaca, and all the Spaniards, whom the go- 
vernor had sent by sea from the island of St. Ca- 
therine. On their arrival at Buenos Ayres, they 
had taken measures to alter the situation of the 
town ; but as winter came on in the mean time, 
and all the rivers had overflown their banks, the 
only step that could be taken was to proceed to 
Assumption. Mendoza, too, who had just been 
sent down for the re-establishment of Buenos 
Ayres, had been still more unfortunate. One of 
his vessels, loaded with provisions, was wrecked, 
and some of the crew drowned ; his own vessel 
suffered very severely, and he was compelled to 
return to Assumption. 

In 1543, that town experienced a very great dis- 
aster. An accidental fire consumed two hundred 
houses, and left only fifty standing, which were 
separated from the rest by water. The governor 
in this calamity exerted himself to relieve the suf- 
ferers, sending to all the Indian towns around to 

* CD 



King's Port discovered. ^45 

buy provisions, at his own expense. He then 
furnished the money requisite to supply the otter 
wants of the inhabitants; so that all the houses, 
which had hitherto consisted of nothing but 
straw, were, with inconceivable dispatch, re-built 
of earth. 

Don Alvarez had sent Irala on discoveries to- 
wards the sources of the Paraguay ; and that of- 
ficer, who had three stout brigantines, and was 
accompanied by ninety Spaniards, and a great 
number of Indians, arriving at the mouth of lake 
Xarayes, named a port, on its western shore, 
Puerto de Los Reyes, or King's Port, because he 
entered it on epiphany, or twelfth-day; and then 
proceeded by land towards the west, and met 
with several nations who had a great deal of 
wrought gold and silver; but he could not dis- 
cover whence they obtained it. 

In consequence of Irak's report, Alvarez resolved 
upon undertaking a similar expedition himself, and 
appointing Don Juan de Salazar to command in his 
absence, he set out with two hundred Spaniards, 
followed by twelve hundred of the bravest Guarani 
warriors in canoes. Shortly after his arrival at 
Puerto de la Candelaria, he was amused by the 
Payagua Indians, who sent a message to him, so- 
liciting to enter into a treaty with the Spaniards, 
and saying that they still were in possession of all 
the treasure taken from Ayolas, which they were 
disposed to restore. Upon being asked in what the 
treasure consisted, they said in as much gold and 

K 3 



^46 Distant expeditions 

silver in bracelets, crowns, and other ornaments* 
as sixty Indians could carry. But though the 
messenger promised that the cacique of the Paya- 
guas should come to enter into a personal treaty 
with Don Alvarez on the following day, none of 
them ever came ; and it was surmised, that this 
pretence at negotiation was merely to gain time 
to remove their treasures out of his reach. Don 
Alvarez was advised to pursue them by his Gua- 
rani interpreter, in whose opinion it would not be 
difficult to overtake them, as they were so heavily 
laden ; adding that by what; he knew of the coun- 
try, they would not halt till they arrived at a lake^ 
well stored with fish, in the centre of a very fine 
country, and which had been very populous be- 
fore the Payaguas had destroyed its inhabitants. 
Don Alvarez took the Guarani's advice, and 
landed with great part of his troops at the mouth 
of a river, by which the lake empties itself into 
the Paraguay, Before he could reach this river, 
he observed a numerous body of Indians, who, he 
was informed, were the Payaguas, endeavouring to 
make their escape ; but, though he followed for 
eight days together the course of this river, and 
made the tour of the lake whence it issues, he could 
meet none of them; and therefore, judging that it 
would be to no purpose to proceed farther in quest 
of such a roving unsettled people, he made the 
best of I 1 . is way back to Candlemass Port. Here 
he embarked again, and proceeded up the river a* 
far as King's Port. Here he set up a cross, and 



of Don Alvarez. 247 

erected a chapel. His men now began to murmur 
at going farther, and, tempted by the beauty and 
fertility of the island of Orejones, before described, 
proposed an establishment there. Soon after this, 
Mendoza arrived with the rest of the fleet, and in- 
formed the governor that the Guaroropos Indians 
had attacked a brigantine, and killed five or six 
Spaniards : that they had afterwards set out to 
prevail on the Indians in the neighbourhood of 
King's Port, to join them against the Christians ; 
and that there was great reason to dread a general 
conspiracy of all these nations. Don Alvarez re- 
ceived, at the same time, intelligence bv Hector 
D'Acuna and Antonio Correa, whom he. had sent 
with ten or twelve soldiers to invite the Xarayes 
to conclude a treaty with them, that, after travers- 
ing some overflown countries, where they suf- 
fered a great deal for the want of provisions, they 
at last came to the Xarayes, who were very willing 
to enter into a treaty with the Spaniards, and their 
cacique offered to furnish Alvarez with an inter- 
preter who had travelled much, and might be of 
considerable service to him. 

7 Don Alvarez received the cacique's offers very 
graciously, and, leaving his brigantines to the cars 
of one hundred Spaniards, under Juan de Romero, 
he set out on his journey westward. After five days 
march, during which there was no travelling but 
by cutting a passage through the woods, he 
reached the banks of a river, whose water was 
very warm, and at the same time very transparent. 

R 4> 



24S 



Ribercts expedition. 



Though several nations sent deputies to him with 
compliments and provisions, others attempted to 
oppose his passage. He had now travelled a great 
way, when he came to a large town, consisting of 
S000 houses or huts, in the centre of which was a 
tower or pyramid of timber, the abode of a mon- 
strous serpent, deified by the Indians. The cap- 
ture of this town and destruction of its divinity 
terminated his expedition, as his soldiers here 
loudly murmured and refused to accompany him 
farther. He therefore returned to Puerto de los 
Reyes, where he was informed by the Orejones, 
that, by ascending the Iguatu, he would meet with 
various rich and powerful nations; and upon this 
he dispatched fifty of his best men under Fernan- 
dez de Ribera, to prosecute discoveries by that 
route*. 

* The account of Ribera's expedition is pregnant with wonders, 
related to him by the Indians whom he met with. Proceeding up 
the Iguatu for six days he found it to be formed by the junction of 
two other rivers, called the Yacareati and the Yayoa ; the former, 
he was informed, issuing from the mountains to the west, and th« 
latter from those to the north, fall precipitately into a very low 
country, first mixing their waters, and then separating and forming 
a very great island, well inhabited by different nations. He left 
his brigantine and twelve men at this confluence, and proceeded by 
land till he came to the latitude of 14° 53' S. It was by the Ur- 
tuezez Indians that he was told of a nation of Amazons, as related 
in page 43 ; and he was likewise informed of the existence to- 
wards the north-west of large and populous towns, of nations pos- 
sessing great treasures, of lakes of immense extent, and other fic- 
tions, which obtained ready belief from the credulous cupidity of 
the age. 



Discontents at Assumption* 249 

The overflowings of the rivers, now occasioned 
many disorders amongst the Spaniards, and Don 
Alvarez himself fell sick. The Indians, perceiving 
their distressed situation, harassed them without 
intermission. The governor was therefore obliged 
to return to Assumption, which he did on the Sth 
of April, 1544. The moderation and justice he 
displayed on this occasion towards the Indians, 
and his firmness in resisting the cupidity and ty- 
rannic desires of his companions, fomented the 
discontents that had prevailed in the colony 
amongst the partizans of Irala, ever since his arri- 
val. When about to embark on his return, he gave 
directions that all the Indians who had been left 
as hostages with him, for the good behaviour of 
their countrymen, should be restored to their 
friends. These orders, which were firmly carried 
into effect, gave great offence to the Spaniards, 
who had already considered these hostages as their 
slaves, notwithstanding Alvarez produced an order 
from the emperor, not to carry off any Indians by 
force out of their country, nor to suffer others to 
do so. 

On his arrival at Assumption he found Salazar 
occupied in making preparations for the extirpa- 
tion of the Agazes, who had constantly harassed 
the Spanish settlers and their allies the Guaranis. 
But, fearing new domestic disturbances, Alvarez 
would not engage in hostilities against them ; 
whilst, finding that a caravel which he had ordered 
to be built, before he set out on his late expe- 



Seizure of Alvarez 

dition, was ready for sea,* he determined to em- 
bark in her as soon as his health would permit 
him. 

The schemes and machinations of the malecon- 
tents, had now, however, attained a greater con- 
sistency, and a more daring aspect, than Alvarez 
had any conception of; and he was soon after 
seized and confined by an armed faction under the 
ostensible command of Cacerez Cabreras and Gar- 
cias Venegas, but, in fact instigated by Irala, whose 
disappointed ambition could only be gratified by 
the entire removal of his more illustrious rival. Irala 
assumed the government the day after, declaring 
that he did it only provisionally, and until the 
royal pleasure should be known ; and the most 
zealous of Alvarez's friends were seized and con- 
fined ; whilst the populace and the soldiery, who 
were, in general, much attached to him, were 
kept in check by the declaration of the con- 
spirators, that the first commotion should cost the 
governor his life. 

Alvarez was confined with the greatest rigour; 
whilst Iraia and his adherents, the promoters of 
this revolution, unrestrained by the humanity, the 
temperance, and the justice that had character- 
ized his proceedings, indulged the evil propen- 
sities of the Spaniards. The Indian towns around 
were now the scenes of pillage and riot; their 

* This confirms what has been stated, that the Paraguay was 
formerly, if it be not now, navigable by sea-ships, as high as As- 
sumption. 



by conspiruiors. 95\ 

women were taken away by force, their provi- 
sions and property plundered or destroyed, and 
themselves compelled to the hardest personal 
servitude. 

About this time, about fifty Spaniards left the 
colony, and made the best of their way through 
Brazil, in order to acquaint the emperor with the 
disorders that prevailed ; whilst, with a perver- 
sity and blindness, which often defeats the pur- 
pose of the most cautious offenders, the enemies 
of Alvarez determined upon sending him to Spain, 
with grievous accusations, and a feigned process, 
flattering themselves that they could so represent 
matters as to obtain the approbation of the court to 
their conduct. On the other hand, his friends did 
not forget him. They caused judicial reports to 
be made of every thing that had occurred, and, 
together with various documents, which Alvarez 
had put into their hands before his imprisonment, 
they enclosed them in a beam, hollowed for the 
purpose, which they found means to have nailed 
to the stem of the vessel in which he was to em- 
bark ; the carpenter who had been bribed, alleg- 
ing that this precaution was necessary for strength- 
ening the bows. 

Cabreras and Venegas accompanied Don Alva- 
rez as his guards and intended prosecutors ; but 
putting in, after three months protracted naviga- 
tion, at the Azores, they proceeded by another 
vessel they found there, and arrived in Spain 
twelve days before him. Both Cabreras and Ve- 



262 Sent to Spain and acquitted, 

negas, however, died soon after they had laid their 
accusations and papers before the council of the 
Indies, and the prosecution against him failed 
completely; whilst Lopez de Ugarte, who had 
been sent over by Irala, as his agent in this affair, 
never could obtain permission to return to Para- 
guay. 

Alvarez, however, was not fully acquitted of 
every thing laid to his charge, in less than eight 
years; nor did the council think proper to send 
him back to Paraguay, lest his presence there 
should occasion fresh disturbances. The emperor 
granted him a pension of two thousand gold 
crowns, together with a seat in the council of the 
Indies, and one in the Royal Audience of Seville. 



253 



CHAP. VII. 

Government of Irala — His expeditions — Encomien- 
das and their origin — Death of Irala — Foun- 
dation of Santa Cruz de la Sierra — Juan Ortiz 
de Vergara declared governor — Deposed bij the 
viceroy of Peru, and Juan Ortiz de Zarate ap- 
pointed in his stead— Dissent ions at Assumption — 
Foundation of Santa Fe — Government of Tucuman 
established, and towns built there — Chuquisaca 
and Los Charcas — Re-establishment of Buenos 
Ayres — First introduction of the Jesuits — Re- 
flections on the Spanish colonial policy. 

JRALA, being thus established in the govern- 
ment, resolved to prosecute the discoveries 
which his predecessor had commenced ; being ac- 
tuated both by the policy of giving employment 
to many, who might at home be inimical to his 
interests, and by the desire of making himself 
necessary, by entering into the views of the em- 
peror. After successfully exerting himself in re- 
pressing the insults of the Indians around Assump- 
tion, and leaving Don Francisco de Mendoza, to 
act as his lieutenant during his absence, he em- 
barked with three hundred Spaniards, in four bri- 
gantincs, followed by three thousand five hun- 



$3 4 Ira la penetrates to Fern, 

dred friendly Indians, partly in pirogues, and 
partly by land. 

From Puerto de los Peyes, he proceeded to the 
Xarayes, who supplied him with provisions and 
guides ; and, leaving his vessels under the charge 
of these Indians, he directed his course to the 
westward, and, after many days march, arrived on 
the banks of the Guapay, which joins the Mamore, 
and runs into the Maragnon. Hence he travelled 
till he reached the Sembicosis, a nation that re- 
sided at the foot of the Cordillera of Peru, from 
whom he procured much gold and silver, He here 
learnt the dissentions that prevailed in Peru, in 
consequence of the revolt of Gonzalez Pizarro ; 
and, thinking this a favourable opportunity to in- 
gratiate himself with the emperor, he sent Nuflo 
de Chaves to the president de la Gasca, with an 
offer of himself and all the troops that were with 
him. The president accepted his offers, and 
named Don Diego de Centeno, to govern Para- 
guay during his absence. But, as Irala's mes- 
sengers made a very long stay, as they had to go 
to Lima, his troops mutinied, and he was obliged 
to return. Finding, at his return amongst the 
Xarayes, that his vessels were m good order, he 
took shipping, and dropped down to Assumption, 
where he did not, however, arrive till the year 
1549, being the third after he had left it. 

In this interval great changes had happened : 
and Irala being supposed, from his long absence, 
to have shared a similar fate with Ayolas, Don 



Tyranny on his return. $55 

Francisco de Mendoza proposed the election of a 
new governor, in the expectation that the choice 
would fall upon himself; but in this he was disap- 
pointed, and Don Diego de Abreu was elected. 
Mendoza, upon this, conspired to remove him j 
but his cabal was discovered, and he was seized 
and beheaded by his more fortunate rival. 

Upon Irala's return, Abreu, with some of his 
friends, fled into the interior of the country, 
where, however, he was overtaken and killed. 
These transactions were attended with much vio- 
lence and confusion ; and Irala, though in many 
respects extremely well qualified for the supreme 
command, is arraigned, not only of crimes and 
treachery in the attainment of it, but of tyranny 
and excess in the exercise of it. The impunity 
with which he permitted the soldiery and his ad- 
herents to maltreat, not only the Indians, but 
the rest of the Spaniards, produced many revolts 
amongst the former, and much discontent amongst 
the latter. Sensible that he had many enemies* 
he incessantly employed spies, and inflicted death 
or imprisonment whenever he suspected that at- 
tempts were made to convey intelligence of hh 
proceedings to Spain, or to the viceroy of Peru, 
from whom, as being nearer at hand to controui 
disorder, -or punish malversation, he had more to 
dread than from the inefficient mandates of the 
metropolitan government. 

It arose from the complaints that had reached 
the president de la Gasca, that he desjgnedCenteno 



2^6 Expedition against the Tapez. 

to proceed to Paraguay. Centeno was an old 
officer, whose name is famous in the history of 
Peru, and whose instructions were replete with 
the wisest and most beneficent regulations for re- 
trieving affairs in Paraguay. The intentions of 
Gasca, were, however, frustrated by Centeno's 
death, which happened in the midst of the prepa- 
rations making for his departure. 

Irala, thus freed from the danger of being sup- 
planted from Peru, applied himself to the making 
of useful establishments. Perceiving that the co- 
lony could scarcely subsist without a port of ready 
and convenient access from the mother-country, 
he sent two brigantines, under Juan Romero, to 
fix upon a spot for that purpose. Romero stopped 
at the mouth of a little river that joins the Plata, 
somewhat above the islands of San Gabriel, and 
laid down the plan of a city, under the name of 
San Juan, which is likewise that of the river; 
but the Indians annoyed the new settlers to such 
a degree, that the attempt was given up, and Ro- 
mero returned to Assumption. 

Some time after the Guaranis of the Parana, who 
had submitted to the Spaniards, applied to the go- 
vernor for assistance against the Tapez, a nation 
inhabiting the frontiers of Brazil, who, supported 
by the Portuguese, made frequent irruptions, and 
committed many ravages amongst these Guaranis. 
Irala undertook an expedition himself on this oc- 
casion, and, defeating- the Tapez, relieved the Gua- 
ranis from their encroachments. In consequence 



Don Juan de Sanabria, 



257 



of this excursion, he resolved to build a town in 
that quarter, and sent thither Garcias Rodriguez 
de Vergara, in 1554, with sixty men, who fixed 
upon a spot on the -right bank of the Parana; 
where he built a town, which he called Ontiveras, 
after his native place in Castile; but the name 
Was soon lost in that of Guayra, by which the 
province in which it was situated oecai me known. 

During these occurrences, measures had been 
taken in Spain for sending a new governor to Pa- 
raguay; and Don Juan de Sanabria had agreed 
with the emperor to be at the expense of an ar- 
mament. He was created adelentado, governor, 
captain-general, and alguazil-major of the province 
of Rio de la Plata, and invested with all the power 
and privileges which had before been conferred 
on Don Pedro de Mendoza. Sanabria died whilst 
he was making preparations for the voyage; and 
the emperor renewed the treaty with his son ; who 
embarked for his government, but perished by 
shipwreck, at the mouth of Rio de la Plata, with 
all his company, except a few sailors, who car- 
ried the news of this disaster to Assumption. 

That city was erected into a bishopric by Pope 
Paul III. in 1547, but it was not till 1554 that 
bishop Pedro de la Torre sailed for Paraguay. He 
left Spain with three ships full of men, arms, and 
ammunition, sent by the emperor, under the com- 
mand of Martin de Urua. Commissions were sent 
out by this conveyance to Iraia, continuing him in 
Lis government; who thus, by a fortuitous chain 

S 



Encomiendas, 



of circumstances, saw himself confirmed in the 
enjoyment of his usurped authority* At the same 
time various orders and regulations were brought 
over, the principal of which related to the enco- 
miendas, or personal services of the Indians. 

These encomiendas were a method contrived to 
reward those who had contributed to the establish- 
ment of the colony, and who, as has already been 
observed, were styled the conquerors of Paraguay. 
All the Indians, who were reduced into subjection, 
either by force or fair means, were divided into de- 
partments or encomiendas, which were granted to 
private persons, for a certain number of years, 
more or less, according to their rank or services. 
On the expiration of this term, the Indians de- 
volved to the crown ; and the governor either em- 
ployed them in the public works, or made them 
over to other private persons, so that each adven- 
turer partook of their services in his turn. This 
service consisted in their labouring for him gratis 
for two months, and paying him out of what they 
could earn during the other ten months, a tribute 
of five piastres, from which those who 'were under 
eighteen, or above forty, were exempted. The 
fifth of this tribute was appropriated to pay the 
priest of the district. In return for this service, 
those who enjoyed it, called emomanderos, were 
to provide their Indians with necessaries, and to 
see that they were instructed in the principles and 
practice of the Christian religion. But, as Charles Y\ 
foresaw that 'these regulations alone would never 



New settlements. 



959 



suffice to protect the Indians against the exactions 
of their encomanderos, he ordered that officers 
should be appointed to receive their complaints, 
and to do them justice, with power to deprive of 
their encomiendas those who should have been 
proved to have made an ill use of them. The 
wisest precautions, and the severest laws, form, 
however, but weak barriers against avarice and 
oppression; especially when the distance of the 
sovereign, and the facility of corrupting those en- 
trusted with the execution of his orders, affoi W 
hopes of impunity; a truth which was rendered 
evident by the fate of these encomiendas; which 
were made the instruments of the most cruel 
bondage, and severe oppression. 

As the number of reduced, or converted Indians, 
was not sufficient to supply all the Spaniards who 
laid claim to their services, it was resolved by the 
governor to form new settlements, in order to dis- 
pose of the natives in their vicinity in the same 
manner. In \557, Ruy Diaz Melgarejo w r as sent 
into the province of Guayra, and, after surveying 
a great part of it, he considered the situation of 
the capital indifferent; he therefore removed all 
the inhabitants to the other side of the Parana, 
about nine miles higher, where he built a new 
town, and called it Ciudad Real. Forty thou- 
sand of the surrounding Indians were given to 
the inhabitants, who found no great difficulty 
in bringing them to cultivate the soil, which, in 

s 2 



260 Foundation of Santa Cruz. 

a short time, rewarded their pains with plentiful 
crops of grain, pulse, and cotton. 

Nuflo de Chaves was dispatched about the same 
time, to make a similar establishment amongst the 
Xarayes: but he either did not, or would not, 
find a situation adapted for ■ the purpose; and 
proceeded to the westward, endeavouring to make 
a settlement amongst the Chiquitos Indians. 

Pending this expedition, Irala was seized with 
, a fever, and died at Assumption, nominating his 
son-in-law, Don Gonzalez de Mendoza, lieutenant- 
general and commander of the province, till the 
emperor's pleasure should be known. 

Chaves, in the mean time, had advanced as far 
as the plains of Tamaguaco, where he met with 
Andreas Manso, whom the marquis de Cannette, 
yicero}^ of Peru, had sent with a strong detach- 
ment, to make a settlement there. Chaves here- 
upon put himself under the government of the 
viceroy of Peru, and went to Lima, whence b$ 
returned as lieutenant to Don.Garcias de Men- 
doza, whom the viceroy had nominated governor 
of the whole of this country. Chaves began 
the exercise of his charge by founding a town, 
which he called Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and re- 
ducing or converting sixty thousand Indians, prin- 
cipally of the nation of the Moxos. 

The lieutenant-general at Assumption, had died 
in the interval, and Don Juan Ortiz de Vergara 
having been unanimously elected to succeed him, 



Don Juan Ortiz de Vergara. 261 

had, in the year following, 1559, to quell a revolt 
of the Guaranis, near Assumption, whose yoke 
became more intolerable from day to day; and he 
had scarcely returned from this expedition, when 
an Indian arrived to require succours in the name 
of Melgarejo, against those in the neighbourhood 
of Ciudad Real, who had likewise taken up arms. 
The Indian stated, that Melgarejo was closely be- 
sieged, and that he had passed unsuspected through 
the thickest of the enemies. The governor, seeing 
him naked, with nothing but his bow and arrows 
about him, asked him what proof he could give 
of his commission. Upon this the Indian put his 
bow into the governor's hands, and desired him 
to examine it well. Neither the governor nor his 
attendants could discover any thing to attract their 
attention about the bow; when the Indian, taking 
it back, shewed them in the middle of the bend 
within side, a small grove, so well closed as to 
be indiscernible: from this he took a note from 
Melgarejo, which was to serve him as his creden- 
tials. Don Alphonso de Requelmi was sent to the 
relief of Ciudad Real, which he found reduced to 
great extremity, and he spent the whole of the 
winter of 1560 in re-establishing the tranquillity 
of the province of Guayra. 

Vergara, not having yet received his commission 
as governor from the emperor, was advised to apply 
to the viceroy of Peru to confirm him; and, as 
soon as he had suppressed a new revolt amongst 
the Indians, in doing which much blood was spilt 

s 3 



2d$ Don Juan Ortiz de Vergara, 

on both sides, he resolved to proceed thither in 
person. The bishop of Assumption accompanied 
him, and Vergara, appointing Don Juan de Ortega 
to command during his absence, took with him 
three thousand Spaniards, and an equal number of 
Indians. Nuflo de Chaves, who had returned to 
Assumption to fetch his wife and children, set out 
with him ; and, on his arrival amongst the Ttatines, 
persuaded three thousand of them to follow him. 
Vergara had no sooner entered the territory of 
Santa Cruz, than Chaves declared to him that he 
alone had a right to command there, which occa- 
sioned great confusion ; and being followed by a. 
great scarcity of provisions, this, together with 
the fatigues of the journey, proved fatal to numbers. 
The Itatines, especially, suffered severely, and re- 
fusing to proceed farther, stopped where the land 
had the appearance of fertility, and built them- 
selves a town, about ninety miles from Santa Cruz. 
Chaves next disarmed Vergara, and all who accom- 
panied him, who, on his arriving at La Plata, the 
capital of Los Charcas, found that still greater 
mortification awaited him there. 

No less than one hundred and ten heads of ac- 
cusation against him had been laid before, the royal 
audience ; one of the principal of which was, his 
having drawn from the province, at a great ex- 
pense, so many Spaniards and Indians, of whom 
great numbers had perished on the journey. He 
was hence referred to Lima, where he was divested 
of his government, and ordered to appear before 



Don Juan Ortiz de Zarate, 



263 



the council of the Indies. His government was 
given to Don Juan Ortiz de Zarate ; who, in 1566, 
went to Spain to procure his commissions directly 
from the king, naming Philip Caceres his lieute- 
nant-general. Caceres, with the bishop, and the 
remainder of the Spaniards and Indians, who had 
left Paraguay with Vergara, returned in the fol- 
lowing year through Santa Cruz de la Sierra, 
where they found Chaves extending his settle- 
ments, but who was killed shortly after by the 
Itatines. Caceres and his companions en- 
countered much difficulty from the hostility of 
the Indians on their route, but arrived at Assump- 
tion early in 1569. Dissentions shortly after 
broke out between the lieutenant-general and the 
bishop; and, after mutual recriminations and mea- 
sures of hostility, they both proceeded to Spain, 
whence neither of them returned to Paraguay. 

Don Martin Suarez de Toledo now assumed the 
government, ad interim ; and about this time, in 
1573, Juan de Garay, a private Biscayan adven- 
turer, founded the city of Santa Fe, a little above 
the place where the Rio Salado, coming from Tu- 
cuman, falls into the Paraguay. Thence navigat- 
ing in small craft up the Salado, at a critical mo- 
ment, when upon the point of being surrounded 
by hostile Indians, he met with a detachment of 
Spaniards, under the orders of Don Jerom Luis 
de Cabrera, governor of Tucuman, who having 
founded the town of Cordova in the same year, 
had sent them to reconnoitre the country. The 

s 4 



^64 Progress in Tucuman. . 

governor of Tucuman now claimed the dominion 
of Santa Fe, which Garay refused to admit, that 
place having been founded by him under the 
auspices of the commander of Assumption, 

In the mean time, the adelentado, Don Juan 
Ortiz de Zarate, arrived at the island of San Ga- 
b'le!, and hearing of the foundation of Santa Fe, 
by Garay, sent him a copy of his own com- 
mission, and appointed him his lieutenant for 
Santa Fe, which put an end to the dispute. 

Tucuman was pretty well inhabited when the 
Spaniards subdued Peru. The nations nearest that 
empire had submitted to the Incas; and others 
were governed by independent caciques. Some 
Spaniards occasionally traversed this province, but 
no part of Tucuman was regularly settled till 
1542 ; when Vaca de Castro, viceroy of Peru, 
after defeating the younger Almagro, distributed 
amongst his captains the governments which his 
victory had placed at his disposal; and he grati- 
fied with that of Tucuman, though not as yet 
conquered, Don Diego de Rojas, who had dis* 
tinguished himself in the civil wars. Rojas filtered 
the province with three hundred men, and sur* 
veyed part of it; but, in the year following, was 
Jkilled by a poisoned arrow. .Francisco de Men* 
doza became general in his stead, but he only 
rambled about the country, and made no esta- 
blishment in any place. At length, the presi- 
dent de la Gasca, in 154-9, appointed Don Juan 
Ifojies de Prado governor of Tucuman, and gave. 



Towns built there. 265 



him troops to keep the Indians in awe, and fami- 
lies to people the country. 

To secure an easy passage into his province, 
Prado founded a town in the valley of Calchaqui, 
which he called San Miguel; and, soon after this, 
Don Francisco de Vilagras, who was marching at 
the head of some troops, from Peru into Chili, 
having taken his route through Tucuman, 
encroached upon Prado's authority, pretend- 
ing, that this province depended upon Chili. 
Prado took up arms to support his right, but 
was defeated and taken prisoner. Yilagras, how- 
ever, released him, on condition that he should 
acknowledge the governor of Chili for his su- 
perior. 

Prado survived this disgrace but a short time; 
and, soon after his death, Baldivia, the conqueror 
and governor of Chili, sent Don Francisco de 
Aguirre to Tucuman, to command there as hig 
lieutenant. He founded, in 1562, the town of 
San Jago del Estero; and two years afterwards, 
that of San Miguel was transferred from its ori- 
ginal situation to where it now stands, sixty miles 
to the north-west of San Jago. In 1567, Don 
Diego de Heredia built, on the banks of Rio Sa- 
lado, a town, which he called Nuestra Senora de 
Falavera, but which was better known under the 
name of Esteco, being that of the place where it 
stood, for it now no longer exists, Esteco, Saita, 
and Jujui, wyre built by way of barriers to Tucu- 
man, against the incursions of the Indians of 



265 



Chaco entered. 



Chaco ; and, in order to fortify this province to the 
south j a fortress had been built in 1558, by Don 
Juan Gomez de Zurita, to which he gave the 
name of Cannette, and which was afterwards, 
when erected into a city, called New London, but 
which is now in ruins. 

Zurita was the first who gave a regular form to 
Tucuman. He successfully made war against the 
Indians, and in 1558, when the numbers who had 
been subjected were taken, it was found that 
eighty thousand paid tribute to the king of Spain. 
Zurita, notwithstanding his success, incurred the 
displeasure of the governor of Chili, who, in 1561, 
sent Don Gregorio Castanenda to supersede him. 
He refused to give up his post, but was attacked, 
defeated, and sent prisoner to Peru; and, in 1563, 
Tucuman was annexed to the viceroyalty of Peru, 
and subjected to the jurisdiction of the royal au- 
dience of Los Charcas. 

Chaco was first attempted to be reduced about 
this time, by the marquis Cannette, viceroy of 
Peru ; who, in 1556, sent Andreas Manso on that 
service. He advanced as far as the extensive 
plains between the Pilcomayo and the Yermejo, 
and began to build a town; but he was surprised 
and killed by the Chiriguanos, and these plains 
have ever since been called the plains of Manso. 

The establishment of the Spaniards in Los 
Charcas was at an early period after their subju- 
gation of Peru. Various adventurers had, at dif- 
ferent times, made predatory excursions into the 



Los Char cas settled. 



267 



extensive territories adjacent t& the Peruvian em- 
pire, which had been partially subjected to the 
dominion of the Incas. No permanent settlement, 
however, was effected till 1538; when Gonzalez Pi- 
zarro, and other commanders, marched from Cusco, 
at the head of a considerable body of troops, and 
advancing into the country" of Charcas, were op- 
posed by the nations that inhabited it with such 
vigour, that it was not till after several obstinate 
battles that they submitted. But their resistance 
did not equal that of the Chuquisacans ; for Pi- 
zarro, after several actions, having penetrated to 
their principal town, they besieged him in it, and 
the danger was so great, that without the speedy 
succours sent to him from Cusco by his brother, 
the few Spaniards who survived the former actions 
would have been all cut off. On the arrival of 
this reinforcement, amongst whom were many vo- 
lunteers of distinction, the Indians were defeated, 
and submitted to the Castilian authority. In the 
following year, Pizarro, convinced of the im- 
portance of making a strong settlement here, com- 
missioned Pedro Anzures to build a town, which 
was accordingly done, on the scite of that of Chu- 
quisaca, and a great number of those who had 
shared in the conquest, continued there, in order 
to subdue the adjacent nations. This town they 
called Plata, in allusion to the silver-mines in its 
neighbourhood, whence the Incas received great 
quantities of silver: but the primitive name of 



268 Re- establishment of Buenos Aures. 

Chuquisaca has prevailed, and is now commonly 
used. 

To return to the history of Paraguay. The 
frequent loss of ships coming from Spain, for 
want of a safe harbour at the mouth of the Plata, 
at last made the Spaniards fully sensible of the ne- 
cessity of one, and the re-establishment of Buenos 
Ayres was therefore determined on, and carried 
into effect in 1580. The adjacent Indians at first 
annoyed the place exceedingly ; but Juan de 
Garay, who was employed by the adelentado on 
this occasion, succeeded in quelling their opposi- 
tion. The city remained for a long time in a 
state of poverty, from which it emerged by de- 
grees. In 1700 its population was estimated at 
about sixteen thousand souls. 

It was about this period that the fathers of the 
the society of Jesus were first called into the 
country, to aid in the conversion of the Indians 
to Christianity ,which had ever been an avowed, but 
a very neglected, object of the conquerors of Ame- 
rica. Their efforts produced, in a short time, such 
singular -effects, and influenced so much upon the 
political situation of the country, that it may be 
proper here to pause and take a review of the 
antecedent part of this colonial history. 

The early establishments of colonies, the disco- 
very and conquest of remote countries, and the 
exploits of those adventurers who primarily fixed 
themselves in the new world, are objects of such 



Character of the Spanish settlers. 26*9 

interest, that a more particular detail has been en- 
tered into of the early chronological events relative 
to Paraguay than will be found necessary in the 
sequel. But from these details, the Spanish com- 
manders, who subjected a part, ravaged more, 
and traversed nearly the whole, of these extensive 
regions, will appear not to disdain a companion, 
either in their hardy, uncontrouled, and 1 n de- 
pendent spirit, or in their ambition and rapacity, 
with the followers of Cortes, or the companions 
€>f Pizarro. 

Unlike, however, in one respect, the low, the 
needy, and the desperate adventurers, who fought 
for fame and riches under the banners of those 
leaders, many of the most ancient names enrolled 
in the nobility of Castiie, are found amongst the con- 
querors of Paraguay. Yet, like them, impatient of 
con troul , an d a m bi t i ous of wealth and com man d , we 
findmostof them pressing forward to attain a virtual 
independence, in the chief command of a province, 
or the subjection of an extensive territory. For 
though all professed obedience and respect to the 
metropolitan state, and to the imperial crown; 
the tedious length of communication, and the mi- 
litary power, and great wealth they had at com- 
mand, rendered the mandates of the court fre- 
quently inefficient, and the tenure of its authority 
always precarious. Wars and dissentions amongst 
themselves were not unfrequent; one governor re- 
fused to acknowledge the supremacy of another ; 
and ambition often retained by force or fraud those 



270 Oppression 

dignities to which a successor had been appointed. 
Although no rebellion, equally formidable or ex- 
tensive with that of Gonzales Pizarro in Peru, 
occurs in the annals of the surrounding countries, 
the dissentions and civil commotions at Assump- 
tion, were both more frequent, and more cala- 
mitous than those at Lima, or at Cusco. 

But amidst the fierceness of contention, with 
which the invaders of the country disputed for 
pre-eminence or for spoil, the natives w r ere preyed 
upon by all sides with unrelenting oppression ; and 
the efforts of the parent state, to ameliorate their 
situation bylaws and regulations, partially redres- 
sive, but ineffectual in operation, tended more to 
inflame the minds of the task-masters, than to 
relieve the misery of their servitors. Every at- 
tempt to improve the condition of the Indians, or 
restrain the inordinate desires of their conquerors, 
was considered as an encroachment upon their un- 
doubted rights, and their dearly earned rewards. 
Every adventurer considered himself as a con- 
queror, entitled, by his services, to an establish- 
ment in that country which had been acquired by 
his valour. He joined his commander as a compa- 
nion of his fortune, and disdained to degrade him- 
self by receiving the wages of a mercenary. It was 
considered, that, as the Spanish court contributed 
little towards the expeditions thatwere undertaking, 
it was not entitled to claim much from their success. 
The sovereignty of the conquered provinces, with 
the fifth of the gold and silver, was reserved for the 



of the natives, 27 1 

crown; every thing else was seized by the asso- 
ciates in each expedition as their own right. The 
plunder of the countries they invaded served to in- 
demnify them for the expense of their equipment, 
and the conquered territory was divided amongst 
them, according to rules which custom had intro- 
duced, as permanent establishments merited by 
their successful valour. In the infancy of these 
settlements, when their extent as well as their 
value were unknown, many excesses and irregu- 
larities occurred. The conquered people we re fre- 
quently pillaged with destructive rapacity, and 
their country parcelled out amongst its new 
masters in exorbitant shares. The rude con- 
querors of America, attentive only to private in- 
terest, and to present gain, seem to have had no 
object but to amass sudden wealth, without re- 
garding the means by which they acquired it ; and 
tasks were imposed upon the Indians, without any 
regard either to what they were physically able to 
perform, or to the outraged feelings of humanity. 
The fatal consequences were, that they pined 
away and perished so fast, that there was reason 
to apprehend that Spain, instead of possessing po- 
pulous countries 1 , susceptible of progressive im- 
provement, would soon only remain proprietor of 
a vast uninhabited desert. 

This preponderating evil became evident in Spain, 
and gave rise to those reformatory regulations, 
which, as has been observed, were brought over 
by the bishop of Assumption in 1,3 £4, and con- 



372 Ineffectual conversions. 

firmed and enforced by the instructions given t6 
Don Juan Ortiz de Zarate. 

The avarice and audacity of soldiers, unaccus- 
tomed to restraint, however, prevented these sa- 
lutary regulations from operating with any con- 
siderable influence; and it was only the unpre- 
meditated establishment of a system, similar to 
that which had been unsuccessfully planned by 
the benevolent Las Casas, that a stop was put to 
the inordinate waste of the human species in 
these regions, where, as well as in the other 
Spanish American dominions, the Indian race was v 

rapidly hastening to extinction. 

The extension of the empire of the cross,, 
always the foremost pretence, and never the ulti- 
mate object, of the Spanish invaders of America* 
was little attended to; and although every expe- 
dition was accompanied by ecclesiastics, who 
sanctioned the enthusiasm with which those In- 
dians,, who resisted the arms of Spain, were at 
times extirpated as the avowed enemies of the 
true faith, and who administered the rite of 
baptism to such whom timidity or policy in- 
duced to submit to that badge of fidelity; yet 
little beneficial effect, or real conversion, attended 
their exertions. Intimidated or trepanned into 
the profession of Christianity, it was natural fotf 
the Indians, when opportunities offered, to throw 
off the yoke of the Spaniards, to abandon the 
practices of their religion ; and though early mis- 
sionaries frequently penetrated into the recesses 



First entry of the Jesuits. 273 

of the mountains, and the haunts of the fugitive 
inhabitants of the plains; they ought, perhaps, 
to be considered more in the light of political emis- 
saries, than of preachers of the gospel. It was 
reserved for the Jesuits of Paraguay to demonstrate* 
that persuasion, humanity, and mildness, were not 
only the surest means of conversion, but also the 
best engines by which to establish a political sway 
over the Indians ; whose mental capacities and cor- 
poreal abilities were considered as degraded below 
the usual standard of man, till the exertions of these 
meritorious missionaries proved them in these re- 
spects equal to the remainder of their species. 

Previous to this period, the bishops of Paraguay 
and of Tucuman had frequently applied, in the 
strongest terms, to the kings of Spain, and the 
council of the Indies, for spiritual labourers to 
assist them in the discharge of their duty. The 
Jesuits, however, now began to be known in 
America; they had been employed for nearly 
thirty years in propagating the gospel in Brazil, 
which father Joseph Anchieta, had, in the quaint 
language of his encomiasts, filled with the odour 
of his holiness, and the splendour of his mira- 
cles; and they had likewise a provincial in 
Peru. Invitations were sent by the bishop of 
Tucuman both to Bn:zil and to Peru. In I0S6 
the first Jesuits that made their appearance in 
this country, fathers Francis Angulo, and AI- 
phonso Barsena, accompanied by a lay-brother, 

T 



tJ4> Arrival of the Jesuits. 

called John Villegas, arrived at Salta, from Los 
Charcas; and a short time after, fathers Juan 
Salonio, of Valencia in Spain, Thomas Fields, 
a Scotchman, and Emanuel de Ortega, a Portu-> 
guese, came from Brazil to Cordova. 



27.5 



CHAR VIIL 

Progress of the Jesuits in Tucuman and Guyara 
—their proposals to Philip TIL — Regulations in 
their favour — The missions molested by the Pan- 
lists — 'Origin of that community — Mamelukes— 
Removal of the missions — The Guaranis allowed 
the use of fre- arms— Change of affairs — Ac- 
count of the political and other regulations of 
the Jesuits — Sequel to the history of their re- 
public. 

^FTER various excursions through the Indian 
population of Tucuman, by the new mission- 
aries, three of the fathers went to Assumption, at the 
request of the bishop of that place; and in 1588, 
they turned their views towards eastern Guayra. 
Two of them proceeded upon a mission amongst 
the Guaranis of that quarter, from whom, proba- 
bly, the name of the province is derived. From 
Ciudad Real they proceeded to Villa Rica, admi- 
nistering spiritual aid to the Spanish and other 
inhabitants of those towns. They then visited 
the Indian towns and villages that were more par- 
ticularly the objects of their mission, and fol- 
lowed the wandering Guaranis through their fo r 
rests and over their mountains. When they 
returned to Assumption after several months . 

T 2 



S76 



Pacific exertions 



fatigue and labour, they reported that they had 
left behind them, two hundred thousand Indians 
ready for the rite of baptism. 
s In 1589, the plague raged with great violence 
at Assumption, and in the adjoining settle- 
ments, and interrupted to a great degree the la- 
bours of the missionaries. They were, however, 
soon resumed with a perseverance that would be 
incredible, were it not for the signal success 
which attended their endeavours. In the early 
part of the missionary labours of the Jesuits, the 
Spaniards were enthusiastic in their praises and 
benedictions; for their mediation was frequently 
and successfully exerted to repress the hostility of 
the wild Indians, and restrain the desertion of 
those who formed their encomiendas. 

j^L revolt which broke out amongst the Calcha- 
quis, contributed greatly to make the inhabitants 
©f Tncuman consider the new missionaries as men 
equally useful to secure the repose of the Spa- 
niards, and establish the Christian religion among 
the natives. There are two nations known by the 
name of Calchaquis, who, though they now live 
at a considerable distance asunder,originally formed 
but one, which, for a long time, was entirely con- 
fined to a valley lying to the west of Salta, which 
still retains the name of the valley of Calchaqui. 
These Indians had, for several years, been very trou- 
blesome neighbours to the Spaniards, till they were 
defeated, in 1565, by the governor of Tucuman ; 
when part of them fled towards Buenos Ayres, 



of the Jesuits. 277 

where their posterity still remain, and the rest 
were transported to the frontiers of Chaco, and 
divided in encomiendas. These, however, unable 
any longer to bear the drudgery of the personal 
service that was required of them, revolted', and 
took refuge in the mountains, whence they made 
frequent excursions into the Spanish settlements. 
In an expedition that was undertaken against 
them, in 1590, by Don Juan Ramirez de Velasco, 
accompanied by father Barsena, the governor, who 
was little acquainted with the country, got en- 
tangled in some defiles, where he was in the ut- 
most danger of being cut off ; when Barsena 
undertook to extricate him ; and, advancing alone 
and unarmed to the Indians, his powers of persua- 
sion were so speedily and successfully exerted, 
that a treaty was immediately concluded with the 
Calchaquis, who refrained from molesting the 
Spaniards afterwards. 

In 1595, a college of Jesuits was established at 
Assumption, and the enthusiasm of the inhabit- 
ants, in their favour, is described as so great, that 
the building was completed by the manual exer- 
tion of the most considerable amongst the Spa- 
niards ; women of the first rank being even ambi- 
tious of putting a hand to it. This great attachment 
shewn to the Jesuits was chiefly owing to the fa- 
cility, with which they were known to manage 
the most untraceable of those Indians who sur- 
rounded the Spaniards ; and against whom both 
force and fair means had previously been found 

x 3 



27 S Omaguacas reduced* 

unavailing. On the other hand, the Indian^ 
flattered themselves that the Spaniards might be 
prevailed upon by men, for w^om they expressed, 
so much esteem, to treat them better than they 
had hitherto done. This, their own interest, 
should have induced the Spaniards to do ; for 
past experience had sufficiently demonstrated, 
that the only way to establish themselves firmly, 
amongst so many nations, jealous of their liberty, 
and unaccustomed to servitude, was to treat 
them with forbearance and with equity. The, 
Spaniards, however, in a short time, changed 
their opinion of the Jesuits, and soon vilified the, 
same men they had extolled to the skies, merely 
because they pleaded the cause of humanity, and 
©f those Indians, without whose good-will and 
welfare, it was almost impossible for the Spa- 
niards to retain possession of the country. 

The Omaguacas, a fierce and savage nation, 
established on the frontiers of Tucuman and Peru, 
who, after receiving the gospel and submitting to 
the crown of Spain, had renounced the Christian 
faith, thrown off the Spanish yoke, murdered their 
missionaries, twice destroyed the town of Jujui, 
and incessantly harassed the Spaniards, were in- 
duced to lay aside their hostility, and were, in a 
great measure, re-converted to Christianity, by 
the address and exertions of two Jesuits, in the 
course of two years ; and, shortly after, the whole 
nation even consented to remove from their ori- 
ginal seat, and followed their spiritual leaders t@ 



\ 



First missions in Guy&pa. 279 

a spot nearer Tucuman, where a zealous secular 
priest, who understood their language perfectly 
well, was appointed to govern them. 

Hitherto the exertions of the missionaries had 
been desultory and isolated. Wandering over ex- 
tensive provinces, they effected numerous conver- 
sions, but made no permanent establishments. 
In 1 602, however, whether in consequence of the 
intriguing spirit of ambition that has been ascribed 
to the society, or of a more fervent zeal for the 
propagation of the faith, the general of the Jesuits 
sent father Paez with a commission to all the mis- 
sionaries in South America ; and it was earnestly 
recommended to them, to form fixed settlements, 
instead of those rambling missions they had been 
accustomed to. A plan was at first proposed to 
leave to the Jesuits of Brazil, all the country to 
the east of the Paraguay and the Rio de la Plata ; 
and the Jesuits, in consequence, left Assumption, 
but they returned in 1604, though it was not till 
1610, that any of those regular establishments 
took place in Guayra, which laid the foundation 
of that singular and extensive Christian republic 
in the wilds of South America, that has been the 
subject of so much political, philosophical, and 
religious discussion. 

In the mean time, father Diego de Torrez arrived 
from Rome, in quality of provincial of Chili and 
Peru, and brought with him fifteen Jesuits ; whilst, 
in 1608, eight more landed at Buenos Ayres, 

T 4 



280 Orders in favour of the missions. 

where some of them were retained, and founded a 
college. 

The commerce of this port had began to flou> 
rish; for, though it was not opened to strangers, 
yet many foreign vessels put in from time to time, 
as if driven in by stress of weather, or upon some 
other pretext, were well received, and carried on 
a trade equally beneficial to themselves and the 
inhabitants. The Indians near the town still con- 
tinued in their primitive state of savageness and 
hostility, massacreing every Spaniard they met 
with. Some of them had indeed been reduced, 
but they were subjected to personal service, which 
rendered the few attempts that had been made to 
convert them abortive. 

The Jesuits continued to plead, with unshaken 
constancy, the cause of the oppressed Indians; 
and thus, clashing with the prejudices, the pride, 
and the interest of the Spaniards, they subjected 
themselves to much obloquy, and in some instances, 
to ill-treatment. 

In 16*09, Don Fernand Arias de Saavedra, 
the governor of Paraguay, in conjunction with the 
bishop, gave father Torrez, the provincial of the Je- 
suits, full power to collect all their newly-convert- 
ed Indians into townships, to govern them with- 
out any dependence on the other Spanish establish- 
ments, to build churches, and to oppose in the 
king's name, all those who should, on any pre- 
tence whatever, endeavour to subject these new 
Christians to any personal service. Torrez imme- 



Mission of Loreito. 281 

diately dispatched the two fathers, Cataldino and 
Macerata, into Guayra, who formed the first town 
amongst the Guaranis, on the river Parapane, 
where the Pirape falls into it, under the name of 
Loretto. These missionaries then made a tour of 
about two hundred and forty miles, in which they 
found twenty-three small villages, many of the 
inhabitants of which were Christians, and the rest 
were soon disposed to receive the gospel, The 
fathers represented to them how much it was to 
their interest to unite together, as, whilst they 
continued scattered in so many little straggling 
villages, it would be impossible for them to defend 
their freedom or to receive instruction. These rer 
presentations began to work on the minds of the 
Indians, when the fathers saw all their expecta^ 
tions on the point of being blasted by the avarice 
of an inhabitant of Ciudad Real, who had accom- 
panied them on this expedition, being perfectly 
well versed in the Guarani language, and serving 
as their interpreter. He had, however, his own 
views, and affected the greatest disinterestedness. 
The fathers were surprised that he never returned 
to their common cabin without appearing to have 
lost some article of- his baggage, and even of his 
clothes; and one day on his returning with no- 
thing but a pair of drawers, they could not re- 
frain from asking him how he came to be stripped 
in that manner. He answered, " You preach one 
v< way, fathers, and I another. You have the gift 
of eloquence,with which God has not been pleased 



2S§ Mission of St. Ignatius. 

44 to favour me; but I endeavour to supply the 
44 want of it by my works. I have distributed 
44 every thing I brought with me amongst the 
"principal Indians of the country, from a per- 
44 suasion that when the chiefs are gained by libe- 
44 rality, it will be easier for you to gain the rest; 
44 and I believe the work is already in great for- 
' 4 wardness." Some time after the Spaniard took 
his leave, and the fathers gave him many thanks 
for his good offices; but they soon discovered that 
he had parted with nothing but to purchase women 
and children, and was carrying them away as slaves. 
The Indians suspected the missionaries of having 
had an underhand share in this infamous traffic; and 
it cost them no little time and trouble to remove 
their suspicions. But they at last did it so ef- 
fectually, that most of them repaired to Loretto. 

The accession of such numbers rendered it ne- 
cessary to establish another town, which was 
formed about five miles off, under the name of 
St. Ignatius; and it was soon found expedient to 
form two more for the reception of proselytes. 
These establishments acquired so speedy and nu- 
merous a population, that the two Jesuits imme- 
diately saw the practicability of establishing a 
Christian republic, upon the principles which had 
probably been recommended to them from the 
focus of their society in Europe. 

Those who first conceived the idea of this im- 
portant undertaking, represented to his catholic 
majesty, in his council of the Indies, and to the 



Proposals of the Jesuits. 283 

colonial government, that the progress of the 
gospel had not only been retarded, but the me- 
mory of the large conversions formerly made 
amongst the natives had been nearly obliterated 
by the conduct of the Spaniards. That the Chris- 
tian, religion was rendered odious to the Indians, 
and the dominion of Spain was detested by them, 
by the licentious behaviour of the Spaniards, and 
their cruel acts of injustice. That before they 
could undertake to convert the Indians to the faith 
©f Christ, it was necessary to give them an autho- 
rity, by which they might secure all their prose- 
lytes, both from the exercise of the tyranny, and 
from the influence of the example, of the Euro- 
peans. They at the same time declared, that they 
hacl no Indians in view, but those who had not yet 
been reduced, or such as had entirely thrown off 
the Spanish yoke; and, either in the spirit of loy- 
alty and truth, or as a veil to cover the ambitious 
designs which have been attributed to them, they 
engaged that all the Indians who should submit to 
their conduct, should acknowledge the king of 
Spain for their sovereign, and swear the most un- 
limited obedience to him. 

On this basis arose the empire of the Jesuits in 
Paraguay. Philip III. approved of their proposals, 
and authorised them by rescripts, which were con- 
firmed by his successors. 

Whilst Mace rata and Cateldino were thus ex- 
tending their spiritual conquests amongst the Gua- 
ranis, another reduction under the name of St. 



2S4? . Regulations as to 

Ignatius Guaza, between the Tebiquari and the 
Parana was founded; many of the Diaguites 
were converted ; and a cacique of the Guyacurus 
applied for some Jesuits to instruct his subjects. 

In 1613, Don Diego Martin Negroni was appoint- 
ed governor of Paraguay, and a royal visitor arrived 
to establish further regulations as to the encomi- 
endas; the former orders on that subject having 
either proved inefficient, or fallen into disuse. A 
compromise was entered into between the visitor 
and the encommanderos, and they were permitted to 
exact gratuitous service from the Indians under them 
for one month in every year, provided they paid 
them wages for the workdone during the other eleven 
months; in process of time^ however, things insen- 
sibly returned to their former footing, and the entire 
labour of the Indians was found scarcely adequate 
to the hard exactions of their task- masters. 

It was likewise declared, that neither the Gua- 
ranis nor the Guyacurus, should ever be subjected 
to the encomiendas, and that the fathers of the 
society of Jesus should alone be charged with the 
care of instructing and civilizing them, and of en- 
gaging them to acknowledge the sovereignty^ of 
the king of Spain, of whom they were to be con- 
sidered as the immediate vassals. The visitor had 
scarcely left Assumption, when the Jesuits, who 
were considered as the promoters of these new re- 
gulations, were compelled, in consequence of 
popular commotion, to withdraw from the place. 
They were soon, however, recalled; and a semi-* 



the converted Indians. 



nary was opened under their guidance at Cordova^ 
for the education of youth, chiefly intended to 
recruit the ranks of their society. 

About this time, however, it was found that 
many of the supposed proselytes in Guayra, had 
only repaired to the reductions in order to avoid 
being molested by the Spaniards of Paraguay on 
the one hand, or by the Portuguese of Brazil on 
the other; and many of them, who had been too 
readily received, soon grew tired of such a re- 
gular life, and returned to the woods and moun- 
tains, when the missionaries least expected it. 

In 16 1,5, there were one hundred and nineteen 
Jesuits in the province ; and this number was 
greatly increased in the following year, by a con- 
siderable re-inforcement from Europe. Several new 
missions were therefore set on foot; of the condctors 
of these, father Gonzalez had the greatest success; 
he founded a reduction at a place called Itapua, one 
hundred and eighty miles from Assumption, and 
two others in the neighbourhood. But Don Per* 
dinando Arias, who had married the father's sister, 
and had been lately promoted, for the second time, 
to the government of Paraguay, nearly destroyed 
these promising appearances by an indiscreet at- 
tempt to forward them. Contrary to his brother- 
in-law's advice, he determined to visit the new 
establishments, accompanied by fifty soldiers, 
whose appearance caused such an alarm amongst 
the Indians, that a large body assembled to cut 
him off on his return: which would have been the 



2S6 Molestation of ihe missioizs , 

case, had not Gonzalez's eloquence opened him d 
passage through them. The governor, on this 
occasion, offered the cacique, who commanded 
these Indians, a staff of command, in the king's 
name ; but the barbarian prince nobly replied, 
that he had long been accustomed to command in 
the country without such a staff, and therefore 
desired him to keep the bauble for somebody else, 
who might deem it more worthy of his accept- 
ance. 

In the mean time, an epidemic disease broke 
out in the old reductions, and carried off a great 
number of the neophytes, whilst the inhabitants 
of Villa Rica surprised and carried off into slavery 
many of the new christians; and the missions be^ 
gan to be extremely annoyed by the inhabitants of 
St. Paul of Piritininga, a town and district in the- 
province of St. Vincent, in Brazil, which, though 
of despicable origin, and of contracted extent, has 
become famous in the annals of these regions* 

The first Portuguese inhabitants of Brazil were 
exiles from Portugal, who were condemned to 
banishment for their crimes, or persecuted by the 
inquisition for their schismatic opinions. Of these 
some of the more hardy and enterprising, founded 
in the mountains at the back of St. Vincent, the 
town of St. Paul surnamed Piritininga from the 
Indian name of the district in which it was 
situated. Remote from the jurisdiction of legal 
authority, little observant of the rituals of the 
church, and still less restrained by the obligations 



by the Paulists, 5S7 

of morality, the Paulists were, from the com- 
mencement, only nominally and precariously de- 
pendent on the government of Brazil. They in- 
termarried with the Indian women; and by the 
dissolute and almost savage, but free and unre- 
strained, life they led, they drew together a num- 
ber of fugitive slaves, and discontented and tur- 
bulent individuals, from the adjacent Portuguese 
and Spanish settlements ; and their numbers were 
augmented by many of the Dutch invaders of 
Brazil, after they were expelled by Vieyra, in 
lo64. About 1618, they threw off all real de- 
pendence upon Portugal, and constituted a repub- 
lic, whose fundamental law was licentiousness, 
and w T hose palladium was rapine. No stranger 
came within their precincts without being com- 
pelled to become a member of their state ; and 
such as rejected the honours of citizenship 
amongst them, as well as all whom they suspected 
of an intention of desertion, were massacred 
without mercy ; retrogression there was none, and 
repentance was unavailing. They carried desola- 
tion in their excursions to the most distant parts, 
and both the confines of Peru and the banks of 
the Maragnon, became, in progress of time, the 
scenes of their ravages. A principal object in 
their predatory expeditions, was the capture of 
slaves. The men were mostly either killed on 
the spot, or more inhumanly and wretchedly de- 
stroyed by the severest labour in carrying the 
booty of their ravagers over the rugged moun- 



288 Character of the Paulists. 

tains, and through the trackless forests in their 
route homewards. The women and children were 
added to their community ; and the circumstance, 
of their ranks being thus recruited from all the 
surrounding nations, together with the consequent 
intermixture of blood, occasioned them to receive 
the appellation of Mamelukes; the terror of which 
name was spread farther and wider than that of 
their Egyptian prototypes. 

The jealousy and animosity which prevailed 
between the Spaniards and Portuguese, even 
when the two nations were united under the same 
sovereign, favoured the political independent 
existence of the Paulists; and, though it was the 
interest of both nations to subdue and controul 
them, there never existed sufficient harmony be- 
tween them to allow of success in such an enter- 
prise. Besides this, the town of St. Paul was 
most advantageously situated for defence, and, 
from its inaccessible scite, was considered as im- 
pregnable by. any other means than by famine ; 
whilst a much more numerousbody of troops would 
have been requisite for its blockade, than either 
Brazil or Paraguay could raise or support. 

A pure air, a sky constantly serene, a tempe- 
rate climate, although in the twenty-fourth degree 
of south latitude, and a soil fertile in wheat, in su- 
gar, and in excellent pasturage, seemed to invite 
the Paulists to a life of comfort and ease, if 
Rot of luxury and indolence ; but, an unconquer- 
able spirit of libertinism and anarchy; and th$ 



Province of Rio de la Plata. 589 

love of rapine inherent in these hardy banditti, 
enured them to, and endeared to them, the life of 
Fatigue and of danger which they led, in travers- 
ing the extensive, wild, and scarcely accessible re- 
gions, of whose inhabitants, it has been calculated, 
that they destroyed, in the course of time, full two 
millions. 

It was about this time, that a province, distinct 
from that of Paraguay, was established, under the 
name of Rio de la Plata. The Tebiquari was ap- 
pointed the common boundary of these two pro- 
vinces, and Buenos Ayres became the capital of 
the new one. It was afterwards ordered, tnat the 
reductions established in Guyara* and on the 
banks of the Parana, should be under the juris- 
diction of the governor and bishop of Paraguay, 
and those on the Uraguay, under that of the go- 
vernor and bishop of the new province Don 
Manuel Arias was the first governor of Paraguay, 
under this new regulation; and Don Diego Gon- 
gora, then in Spain, was appointed governor of 
Rio de la Plata. Gongora, soon after he had em- 
barked for his government, fell under the displea- 
sure of the court, and a commissary was di- 
spatched to Buenos Ayres to examine into the 
charges made against him, and eventually to su- 
persede him* The inhabitants, however, had be- 
come so much attached to their new srovernor, that 
the commissary was sent back to Spain, without 
any regard to the royal authority under which he 
acted. 

U 



290 Irruptions of the 

The reductions under the spiritual and temporal 
superintendence of the Jesuits had, in the mean 
time, been extended and increased to a consider- 
able degree; and, in 1629, their number in the 
provinces of Guayra and Uraguay, and on the 
banks of the Parana, amounted to twenty-one. 
Notwithstanding the inroads of the Mamelukes, 
which had begun as early as 1620, they flourished 
from day to day, by the fostering and paternal 
care of their chiefs ; and the reductions of St. Ig- 
natius and Loretto might compare with the most 
flourishing of the Spanish cities in Paraguay; and 
surpassed them in the size and magnificence of 
their churches. But, in 1630 and 1631, the Ma- 
melukes appeared in such force, and their attacks 
were so impetuous and reiterated, that the Jesuits 
and their neophytes were compelled intirely to 
abandon the province of Guayra, and to retire to 
the banks of the Uraguay, and to the other side 
of the Parana. Sixty thousand of the converted 
Indians are calculated to have been destroyed or 
carried off, in two years in these inroads, and 
many of the fathers lost their lives; though with 
inconsistent superstition, the Mamelukes, still 
retaining, or professing, veneration for the insignia 
and the ministry of tbj Christian religion, re- 
verenced the crucifixes, and generally abstained 
from personal violence to those invested with the 
garments of holiness.* 

* A singular instance of their inconsistency, in this respect, is 
related, on their surprising one of the reductions of Tape, named 



V 



Mamelukes. 21)1 

The Spanish inhabitants, and even their govern- 
ors beheld, in the mean time, with inconsiderate 
listlessness, and, perhaps, with latent compla- 
cency, the disasters thus accumulated upon the 
establishments of the Jesuits. It is stated that, 
in 1630, Don Luis de Cespedez put into a Bra- 
zilian port, in order to repair by land tp the ca- 
pital of Paraguay, of which he hr«d lately been ap- 
pointed governor, and happened to pass through 
St. Paul of Piratininga, at a time when nine hun- 
dred Paulists, and two thousand of their Indian or 
Mameluke allies, were preparing to break into 
Guayra, under the conduct of Antonio Rasposo, 
one of their most famous commanders. Although 
Cespedez was thus an eye-witness of the threat- 
ened calamity, yet when, on his passing through 
the reduction of Loretto, he was applied to for 
military assistance against the enemy, he abso- 
lutely refused every aid. Frustrated in obtaining 
the protection to which they naturally looked, 
the Jesuits sent deputies to Oliveyra, the Portu- 
guese governor of Brazil, hoping that his inter- 

Sta. Theresa, which happened just before Christmas ; yet such was 
their outward veneration for the ceremonies of religion, that, on 
that festival, the whole of the banditti, who had just sacked the 
town, murdered some, and made slaves of the rest, of its inhabit- 
ants, appeared at the church of the mission, every man with a 
lighted taper in his hand, to hear the three masses of the day; and 
listened to the reproaches and the anathemas, which the fathers, 
who officiated, hurled at them from the pulpit, without betraying 
cither indignation or remorse. 

u 2 



292 Irruptions of the 

ference with the Paulists, who yet nominally ac- 
knowledged the dominion of Portugal, and who 
had no other mart than Brazil, for their supernu- 
merary slaves, might tend to repress their violence 
and rapacity. Oliveyra listened to them, and 
appointed a commissary to repair to St. Paul, but 
unaccompanied by military force, the remon- 
strances of Oliveyra and the forms of legal inter- 
ference were vain ; and the inhabitants, one and 
all, declared they would rather be unbaptized, than 
suffer him to proceed in his commission. 

The Spaniards, who had hitherto considered 
the settlements of the Jesuits in Guayra, as con- 
tributing little to the security of their other pos- 
sessions in that neighbourhood, saw their mistake 
when it was too late to repair it. Their own ter- 
ritories were now incessantly ravaged by the 
Mamelukes ; and the cities of Ciudad Real and 
Yillarica, were utterly destroyed by them. 

Defeated of their prey in this quarter, t>y the 
removal of the' missions, the Mamelukes attacked 
and destroyed four new reductions, which had 
been formed by father Ranconnier, in the country 
of the Itatines, a mountainous region to the north- 
east of the Paraguay and lake Xarayes ; the de- 
struction of the Spanish city of Xeres soon fol- 
lowed ; and from that time the Portuguese have 
claimed and possessed the mines of Cuyaba, and 
acquired a ready communication with the exten- 
sive territories of Matagrosso, to which the in- 
roads of the Paulists first opened them an access. 



Mamelukes, 



$93 



The removal of the missions, however, relieved 
them but for a short time from the attacks of their 
inveterate foes ; and, in 1633, their inroads ex- 
tended beyond the Parana, and two or three years 
after threatened the banks of the Uraguay. 
Applications for assistance to the provincial go- 
vernments were unavailing, for Don Martin deLe- 
tiesma, who, in 1636, ha-d succeeded Cespedez in 
the government of Paraguay, appeared equally 
insensible with his predecessor to the claims 
either of policy or humanity; and, as a last re- 
source, a deputation was sent by the Jesuits., to 
the court of Spain, to represent their situation. 
Hitherto, although, resistance had at times been 
made by the neophytes, under the conduct of their 
pastors, who, on those occasions, assumed a mili- 
tary character ; yet, their Indian arms, which 
w 7 ere all that they were allowed to possess, and 
their want of discipline and hardihood, rendered 
them wholly inadequate to withstand the fire- 
arms, and the martial and ferocious spirit of their 
invaders. But it now became the most serious 
object of the Jesuits to obtain permission from 
the court to put other weapons into the hands of 
their converts, and to marshal them in regular 
discipline, so that they might be enabled to repel 
their enemies by their own exertions. The policy 
of Spain had hitherto guarded with jealous care 
the introduction of fire-arms amongst the In- 
dians, conscious that, to the superiority of their 
arms, the Spaniards were principally indebted for 

u 3 



i 



^94 Neophytes allowed jive-arms. 

the extent and permanence of their dominion. 
But the pressure of the necessity on this occasion 
was represented with such Warmth of colouring, 
and urged with such persevering address, that, in 
1 6^9, the Jesuits obtained leave to embody and 
arm their neophytes in the European manner. 

The fathers have been accused of greatly exag- 
gerating the disasters suffered, and magnifying 
the dangers to be apprehended, in order to obtain 
this important privilege ; one, without which 
it would have been impossible to accomplish 
those ambitious projects, which have been 
attributed to them, and the outline of which 
certainly seems to obtrude upon the observation 
of such as carefully inspect the veil with which 
the transactions of the society are covered. In 
this instance, however, the destruction of the 
Spanish cities on the frontiers of Brazil, certainly 
afforded ample grounds for the application; and 
the success of it wholly changed the face of affairs. 

The neophytes under the conduct of the Je* 
suits, particularly of some lay-brothers, who had 
formerly been inured to a military life in Chili 
and Peru, soon became formidable in their turn to 
the Mamelukes; and, though the separation of 
Portugal from Spain, and the accession of the 
house of Braganza to the crown of the former 9 
which occurred about this time, encreased the 
animosity of the Paulists to the Spaniards and to 
the neophytes, in a short time the Mamelukes 
found it dangerous to appear in the neighbour- 



State of the Jesuits' republic. 29 «5 

hood of the reductions. These establishments, 
therefore, now enjoyed a tranquillity, which soon 
reinstated them in, and encreased, their former 
prosperity. In 1642, their towns amounted to 
twenty-nine in the two provinces of Parana and 
Uraguay, and the form of their government had 
attained the perfection which has been described 
in glowing colours, both by the advocates and the 
enemies of the Jesuits; the former appretiating 
the merits of the missionaries by the excellent 
effect of their institutions ; and the latter drawing 
inferences of their persevering and sinister ambi- 
tion from their regularity and permanency. A 
short accouilt of the principles of this celebrated 
patriarchal republic will not therefore here be 
misplaced. 

The theocratical empire of the Jesuits, though 
nominally under the dominion of the crown of 
Spain, and paying a tribute, proportionate to the 
number of its subjects, was subordinate alone, in 
every point of political and internal economy, to 
the general of the order at Rome, and his provin- 
cials in America. 

In each town there were two Jesuits, of whom 
the second was generally a missionary, newly ar- 
rived from Europe, or a young priest who had 
just finished his studies at the university of Cor- 
dova, acting as vicar under the parish-priest, who 
was the superior of the whole town. All were 
brothers of one community, with a superior of 
the missions at their head, who transmitted re* 

v 4 



f 96 State of the republic 

gular advices to, and received his instructions from, 
the chiefs of the society in Europe. 

Every town, like the cities of the Spaniards, 
was under a corregidor, regidores, and alcaldes. 
The corregidor was chosen by the Indians, with 
the approbation of the priests. The alcaldes were 
annually appointed by the regidores, and aided the 
corregidor in the maintenance of good order. Nq 
punishment, however, was carried into effect, 
without the priest being consulted; who, on find- 
ing the delinquent really guilty, delivered him 
up to be punished. This was generally by impri- 
sonment for a certain number of days, to which 
fasting was sometimes added; and if the fault was 
very great, whipping was inflicted, which was 
the most severe chastisement used amongst them ; 
for it is stated that such was the state of virtue 
and innocence in which' the neophytes lived, 
under the spiritual guidance of the Jesuits, that 
no crimes deserving of a greater punishment were 
committed in the missions. A cacique likewise 
was appointee] in every town, who attended prin- 
cipally to military affairs, and, together with his 
eldest son, was exempt from tribute. 

In every town was an armoury, where the fire- 
arms, and other weapons used by the militia were 
deposited, under the charge of the Jesuits, All 
persons capable of bearing arms in the town were 
divided into companies, under prpper officers, and 
were exercised in the management of their arms, 
pn the evenings of every holiday, in the market- 



of the Jesuits. S97 

place. The uniforms of the officers were splendid ? 
richly Jaced with gold and silver, and embroidered 
with the device of their town. The magistrates 
had also magnificent habits of ceremony, to wear 
on occasions of solemnity. 

Schools were established in every town for 
teaching reading, writing, dancing, and music; 
and the Indians were found to excel in whatever 
they undertook; the inclination and genius of 
every one being carefully consulted before they 
were forwarded in any particular branch of sci- 
ence. Many, who were destined to the minor 
services of .the church, were taught the Latin 
tongue; but that of Spain was interdicted in their 
schools, either from the alleged fear of contami- 
nation by any. communication with the profligate 
colonists, or from the wily policy of the fathers to 
keep their subjects completely separate from the 
Spaniards. In one of the courts of the house be- 
longing to the priest in every town, were work- 
shops for painters, sculptors, gilders, silversmiths, 
locksmiths, carpenters, weavers, watch-makers,, 
and most other artificers. Here all worked for the 
benefit of the community, under the inspection 
of the priest-co-adjutor ; and boys were in- 
structed in those trades for which they appeared 
to have the greatest genius. Though they suc- 
ceeded extremely well in all these arts, they dis- 
covered, it is said, no talent for invention; but 
possessed that of imitation in a superior degree. 
It was no easy matter to distinguish the crucifixes, 



598 State o f the republic - 

candlesticks, or other objects of art, which they 
manufactured, from the patterns by which they 
were made ; and they have been known to imitate, 
upon bare inspection, the most admired organs, 
astronomical instruments, Turkey carpets, and 
other curious manufactures. Their taste for, and 
execution of, music has been much extolled, par- 
ticularly the full and majestic melody, used in the 
solemn rites of religion. 

Their churches were large and well built, and 
not inferior, in point of decoration, to the richest 
in Peru. Divine service was celebrated in them 
with the pomp and solemnity of cathedrals, and 
no circumstance of festivity or devotion was 
omitted, to attract and cement the attachment of 
the neophytes to the pageantry of the Catholic 
communion. Every house was taxed to produce 
a certain quantity of gunpowder, that a sufficient 
quantity of it might not be wanting, either on 
any political exigency, or for fireworks on holidays 
and anniversaries, which were punctually and ce- 
remoniously observed. 

An asylum for women of ill-fame was also esta- 
blished in every town, and for the support of this 
house, and also of orphans, and of those who by 
age, or other circumstances, were disabled from 
maintaining themselves, two days in the week 
were set apart, when the inhabitants of every vil- 
lage were obliged to cultivate a piece of ground, 
called labor de la communidad ; the surplus of the 
produce of which was applied to purchase furni- 



erf the Jesuits. 299 

ture and decorations for the churches. Every 
family had a piece of land assigned to them, 
sufficient to supply them with necessaries; besides 
which there were other grounds that belonged to 
the commutiity, the produce of which was depo- 
sited in the public magazines, as a provision 
against bad crops, and other emergencies, and for 
the purchase of military stores, &c. the whole 
under the immediate and sole controul of the 
Jesuits. 

The Jesuits likewise took upon themselves, the 
sole care of disposing of the manufactures and 
produce of the Indians designed for commerce; 
for their indolent and childish habits, it is said, 
would not allow them to be their own accountants 
or stewards; besides that it was the policy of 
their leaders, to reserve all external relations to 
themselves. That they might not be in want of 
necessaries, it was one part of the minister's care to 
have always in readiness a stock of all kinds of 
tools, clothes, and other necessaries, so that all who 
were in want might repair to "him, bringing in 
exchange wax, honey, or other produce. This 
barter was made with the strictest integrity, and 
the high character of the priests for justice and 
sanctity was^studiously preserved. The goods re- 
ceived in exchange were sent to the superior of the 
missions, and by him to the agents and factors of the 
society, in the neighbouring places of commercial 
resort, whilst with their produce a fresh stock of 
goods was laid in, and the surplus was applied t0the 



300 State of the republic 

wants of the generality, or the enrichment of the 
churches. 

The most laborious part of the duty belonging 
to the priests, was to visit personally the chacaras 
or plantations of the Indians; and in this they 
were remarkably sedulous, in order to prevent the 
evil consequences of that slothful disposition so 
natural to the Guaranis, who, were they not frer 
quently roused and stimulated by the priests, 
would abandon their work, or perform it in a su- 
perficial manner. They also attended at the public 
shambles, where the flesh was dealt out by the 
priests, in lots proportioned to the number of in- 
dividuals in each family. 

The most exact police was established and main^ 
tained in this republic. All the inhabitants were 
required to be at home at a certain hour every even^ 
ing; after which detachments, regularly relieving 
each other, patrolled the streets. Every town 
kept on foot a body of infantiy, and another of 
cavalry. The infantry, besides their Indian arms* 
carried slings, swords, and musquets: the cavalry 
used sabres and lances; and likewise carbines., 
doing duty at times on foot like dragoons. All 
their small arms, and even their cannon, were 
made by themselves. A party of horse was always 
employed in scouring the country, and all the 
defiles by which strangers could penetrate intQ 
it were well guarded. The strictest precaution was 
used to prevent any communication with the ex- 
terior, except through the medium of their priests, 



of tie Jesuits. 301 

and they were kept completely isolated from the 
other Spanish settlements. 

The Guaranis were for a long time nearly the 
only nation that composed this republic ; next to 
them were the Tapes, who spoke the same lan- 
guage, and are probably of the same extraction. 
But there are few tribes between the Parana, the 
Uraguay. and Brazil, that have not supplied the 
reductions with recruits. Their country has al- 
ready been described as fertile, and the climate as 
temperate. Productions of necessity and of lux- 
ury were raised in abundance; sugar, tobacco, 
grain, cotton, wax, honey, the herb of Paraguay, 
&c. were sources of comfort to the inhabitants, 
and advantageous articles of traffic to their go- 
vernors. It might be supposed that a great in- 
crease of population would take place under these 
circumstances ; and under the patriarchal 'theocracy 
just described, where, to use the language of its 
eulogists, no person was idle, nor any one over- 
burthened with labour; where food was whole- 
some, abundant, and equally distributed ; where 
all were conveniently lodged, and comfortably 
clothed ; where the aged and infirm, the widows 
and orphans, were maintained by the community i 
where no monastic institutions (for celibacy was 
never inculcated or encouraged by the Jesuits 
amongst the neophytes), no sordid views of in- 
terest, or absurd restraints of pride, fettered the 
freedom of choice, or defiled the sanctity of mar- 
riage; where no factitious wants, or destructive 



302 State of the reductions. 

luxuries corrupted the human frame; where the 
benefits of trade were experienced, without the 
fatal contagion of its -vices; where neither the 
practice nor the necessity of capital punishments 
existed ; where neither tythes nor taxes were 
known; and where the devouring plague of fo- 
rensic subtlety, oppression, and delay, was pro- 
scribed. Yet the population was far from being 
commensurate with these promising stamina of 
prosperity ; and the numbers recorded for the pay- 
ment of the tribute to Spain, were most dispro- 
portionately small. It is true that the Jesuits 
were suspected of making false returns, both from 
motives of avarice to save the tribute, and from 
reasons of cautious polic}^, that no alarm might, 
be excited by the numerical consequence of their 
subjects; but it is said, that strict researches re- 
moved those suspicions, and acquitted the Jesuits 
of any deceit in this respect. 

The ravages of the Mamelukes, and incessant 
warfare of the infidel Indians around them, re- 
tarded, in the early stages of their establishment, 
the increase of the missions; and the introduction 
of the small- pox, with the operation of other fatal 
epidemics, are assigned as sufficient causes for their 
stationary or retrograde population. 

From the time the Indians of the missions were 
provided with fire-arms, they were not only able 
to repel their enemies, but were frequently called 
upon by the Spanish governors to aid them in 
distant enterprizes, and on difficult emergencies. 



Neophytes assist the government. 303 

On these occasions they were always led by the 
Jesuits, who could not, agreeably to their stipu- 
lations with the court, refuse to lend the assistance 
of their subjects when required, but who took 
especial and incredible care, that they should have 
little communication with the Spanish soldiery 
and inhabitants. All military orders were com- 
municated to the Indians through the Jesuits alone, 
who acted as interpreters, as commanders, and as 
priests; and always led them back to the reduc- 
tions as speedily as possible after such excursions. 

It was in 1639 that the reduction Indians were 
first called in aid of the Spanish government. 
Eighty neophytes, well armed and orhcered, as- 
sisted Don Pedro d' A Vila, the governor of Rio de 
Ja Plata, to subdue a nest of reneo-adoes and fuW- 
tive Indians of various tribes who had established 
themselves on the islands of the lake Iberi, and 
had become formidable by their depredations. 
Their good conduct, on this occasion, induced the 
governors, both of Paraguay and of Rio de la 
Plata, to apply repeatedly, on any interior or ex- 
ternal emergency, to the Jesuits for auxiliary 
bodies of the Indians under their controul ; and 
they are stated in this way to have rendered the 
most important services to the colony.* 

* It is related, amongst other instances, that in 1 656, Buenos 
Ayres being threatened by the English, four hundred and fifty of 
the neophytes, coming to the assistance of the governor, and sup- 
plying him with boats to transport the troops that had been sent 
for to Corrientes, the enemy no sooner heard of the preparations 
made to receive them, than they relinquished their design. 



304 



Don Bernardin de Cardenas. 



The dissentions and animosities that now began 
to prevail in Paraguay, became the source of much 
contention between the Jesuits, the bishops, and 
the governors of Assumption. At one time the' 
order was caressed and almost adored, at another 
expelled from their colleges with disgrace; some* 
times the bishops appear to have favoured them, 
at others the reverse ; the same occurred with re- 
spect to the governors; and it is'impossible to dive 
into the chaos of clashing interests, and contra- 
dictory opinions, that prevailed during many suc- 
ceeding years of tumult and confusion. Don Ber- 
nardin de Cardenas, appointed bishop of Assump- 
tion, appears to have been a great enemy of the 
Jesuits, and in 1643 planned the total subversion 
of their republic. With a violence and want of 
decorum, ill suited to his episcopal character, 
he subverted even the civil government at Assump- 
tion, and, through the weakness of the governor, 
encroached upon, and obtained nearly the com- 
plete command of, the civil and military jurisdic- 
tion of the province. He put himself at the head 
of a military power, and marched hostile 
array against the reductions on the Parana, but 
was stopped in his career by a prompt measure of 
the governor, impelled into temporary activity by 
the urgency of the case, and by the orders of 
the royal audience of Chuquisaca. In 1645 this 
turbulent prelate was compelled to leave his dio- 
cese, but he soon found means to return again* 
and continued his machinations against the Jesuits, 



Accusations against the Jesuits, 305 

who had become very obnoxious to the inhabitants 
of Assumption. 

The principal matters of which the society was 
arraigned, were that they defrauded the crown of 
an immense revenue, appropriating the whole of 
what was derived from their establishments to their 
own benefit, excepting the paltry proportion they 
paid, as the tribute due from the Indians agreeably 
to their own returns; that they had discovered and 
worked, in the territory of the reductions, very 
rich gold-mines, but which they kept concealed, 
defrauding the crown of its fifth, and appropri* 
ating the whole of the produce to themselves; 
that they usurped all spiritual and temporal power ; 
that by surreptitious representations they had ob- 
tained a royal cedulla, in virtue of which the 
Spaniards of Paraguay were deprived of whole 
tribes of Indians, who belonged to them by right 
of conquest, and ought to be divided in enco- 
miendas; that they taught pernicious doctrines; 
revealed the secrets of confession ; and alienated 
the Indians from the crown of Spain ; with va- 
rious other minor objects of complaint. There is 
no doubt that I he enmity* and interested motives 
of the colonial Spaniards invented, or exaggerated, 
many of these imputations ; and with respect to 

* As an instance of the inveterate rancour with which the Spa- 
nish inhabitants viewed the Jesuits, it is related, that father An- 
tonio Manquiano, was one day accosted in the street by a mis- 
creant, who told him, he did not know what should hinder him 
JfrQfti tearing out his heart to devour -ft, 

x 



306 Judge-conservator appointed. 

the mines, which have been sought after with 
great diligence, both whilst the Jesuits were in 
possession of the country, and since their expul- 
sion, it is asserted that none of any consequence 
exist: but it is no less certain that there was much 
foundation for the allegation of the ambitious 
views of independent empire which were attri- 
buted to them ; as well as for that of pecuniary 
benefits derived to the order from the exclusive 
trade and resources of these provinces. Some of 
the most intelligent Spaniards have even rated 
the sums transmitted from the Jesuits of South 
America to their superiors in Europe, at an an- 
nual average of four millions of piastres, or nine 
hundred thousand pounds sterling. 

On the sudden death of the governor in 1649, 
the bishop was proclaimed governor and captain- 
general by the populace; and one of the earliest 
measures of his authority was the forcible expul- 
sion of the Jesuits from their college, whence they 
were sent to Corrientes under every circumstance 
of disgrace. On this occasion they availed of a 
singular privilege bestowed upon their society by 
a brief of pope Gregory XIII. by which, when 
greatly injured, they were empowered to appoint 
a judge-conservator for themselves, who was bound 
to examine their complaints in a summary manner, 
'and to pronounce sentence in the name of the so- 
vereign pontiff, whose delegate he became -in 
virtue of his nomination. The restraints imposed 
upon the papal jurisdiction in America, however, 



Restraints on the papal power. 507 

required that this brief should be received only 
conditionally* that the superior tribunals should 
allow the cause to be within the competence of a 
judge-conservator, and approve of the person 
elected to act in that quality. 

Notwithstanding the superstitious veneration 
with which the Spaniards are devoted to the holy 
see, early precautions were taken against the in- 
troduction of the papal dominion in America ; 
and Ferdinand solicited from Alexander VL a 
grant to the crown of the tythes in ail the new 
discovered countries which he obtained, on con- 
dition of his making provision for the religious 
instruction of the natives. Soon after Julius IL 
conferred on him, and his successors, the right 
of patronage, and the absolute disposal of all 
ecclesiastical benefices there. But these pontiffs, 
unacquainted with the value of what was de- 
manded, bestowed those donations with an in- 
considerate liberality, which their successors have 
often lamented, and wished to recall. In conse- 
quence of these grants, the Spanish monarchs 
became in effect the heads of the American 
church, and in them the administration of its 
revenues is vested. Papal bulls can not be ad- 
mitted in America, until they have previously 
been examined and approved of by the council of 
the Indies; and both ecclesiastical and civil au- 
thority centre thus in the crown. It has been 
erroneously stated, however, that in consequence 

X 9 



508 



Cardenas disgraced. 



no collision was known to exist between the spi- 
ritual and temporal jurisdiction ; and that to this 
limitation of the pontifical power, singular and 
unexampled when, the age and nation in which 
it was devised is considered, Spain was indebted 
for uniform tranquillity in her American domi- 
nions. On the contrary, acrimonious dissentions 
long prevailed in Paraguay and Tucuman between 
the civil and spiritual powers ; and from the for- 
midable revolt of Gonzales Pizarro in the fif- 
teenth century, to the insurrections that are now 
supposed to be organizing under the auspices of 
Miranda in Terra Firma, civil commotions, popular 
ferment, or open rebellion, have been incessantly 
active in the Spanish South American dominions. 

To return from this digression, the judge-con- 
servator appointed by the Jesuits soon decided 
in their favour against the bishop-governor, who, 
however, contumaciously refused to submit to 
the orders sent from La Plata; and attempted to 
oppose, with a military force, the entrance of 
Don Sebastian de Leon, who had been appointed 
governor; but his resistance was ineffectual, and, 
after dispersing the episcopal troops, Don Se- 
bastian entered the city without opposition. He 
found the prelate seated on his throne, in his 
episcopal habit, the crozier in one hand, and 
the staff of command in the other. This last 
he indignantly threw towards Don Sebastian, 
and, without uttering a word, retired to his pa- 



Services of the reduction Indians. 309 

lace. Cardenas at length obeyed his citation to 
appear before the royal audience of La Plata, 
where he arrived in 1651. 

Tranquillity seems to have been pretty well 
restored in the subsequent years; but in 1660 
it was interrupted by the revolt of the Indians 
held in encomiendas by the citizens of Assump- 
tion, who treated them with great inhumanity. 
This insurrection was so sudden and unexpected, 
that the governor of the province, Don Alonzo 
de Sarmiento, was obliged to retreat with a hand- 
ful of soldiers into a country church, where he 
stood a siege, till a body of neophytes, that 
had been dispatched from the nearest reductions 
upon the intelligence reaching the missionaries, 
arrived to his relief; and with whose assistance the 
revolt was soon quelled. 

The services of these Indians were not confined 
to military aid ; but they likewise afforded much 
assistance in public works of various kinds ; and 
always without receiving either wages or subsist- 
ence, nor even the expenses of their journies; 
the whole being defrayed by the Jesuits. The 
city of Santa Fe was rebuilt by them ; they erected 
the fort of Tabati; and in 1668, and the follow- 
ing years, five hundred of them worked on the 
fortifications, the port, and the cathedral of Buenos 
Ayres. Notwithstanding, therefore, the slight tri- 
bute they paid to the crown, they have perhaps, 
been justly considered as those of its American 
subjects from which it derived the greatest benefit, 

x 3 



310 



CHAP. IX. 

Portuguese colony of St. Sacrament established— 
Attacked and taken — Chiquito ?nissions — Acces- 
sion of the Bourbon family — Colony of St. Sacra- 
ment attempted to be re-established— Don Estevan 
de 'Urizar — Don Joseph de Antequera — Commo- 
tions at Assumption — -Rebellion of Antequera — 
Don Bruno de Zabala opposes him— Intrigues of 
Antequera— He is arrested — -New faction in Pa- 
raguay, under the name of Commune — Fernand 
MumpOy a principal demagogue— Antequera ex- 
ecuted at Lima — Third expulsion of the Jesuits — 
Civil war— Bishop of Buenos Ayres made govern- 
or 6y the Commune— General Junto — Zabala 
defeats the rebels— Settlement of differences in 
Paraguay — Sequel of the history— Capture of 
Buenos Ayres by the English. 

j^FTER the insurrection of 1660, no material 
occurrence is recorded till the year 1679, 
when advice was received that the Portuguese of 
Rio Janeiro were fitting out fourteen vessels, and 
embarking troops, arms, ammunition, and every 
thing requisite for a grand establishment, which 
they projected on the northern shores of Rio de 
la rl-ta, under the- command of Don Manuel de 
Lobo. Upon receipt of this intelligence, prepa- 



Colony of St. Sacrament. 3 1 1 

rations were made to intercept or expel them, and 
Don Joseph de Garro, the governor of Rio de la 
Plata, dispatched a brigantine to visit all the 
creeks and shores on both sides the river below 
Buenos Ayres; but the commander, not imagining 
that the Portuguese would have the assurance to 
establish themselves so near the capital as the 
islands of San Gabriel, neglected to examine 
them. A few days after, some of the inhabitants 
going to cut wood in a little creek of the continent 
behind the largest of those islands, beheld to their 
surprise, some buildings newly finished. Making 
their report to the governor, he immediately sent 
an officer to inquire into this circumstance ; who, 
on beinsf conducted to the Portuguese commander, 
was greatly astonished to find himself in a regular 
fortress, mounted with cannon, provided with 
magazines, and containing labourers, materials, 
ammunition, and every thing requisite to build 
and defend a city ; with four vessels riding at an- 
chor, under the walls of the fort. 

A summons was immediately sent to Lobo, to 
evacuate the territory of Spain ; but he replied, 
that he was upon the territory of his master, the 
King of Portugal, where he would remain. In 
some discussions that followed, as to their re- 
spective limits, the Portuguese claimed the whole 
of the left bank of the Paraguay and Rio de ia 
Plata ; and even alleged, that the dominions of his 
most faithful majesty extended as far as the fron* 



312 St. Sacrament attacked and taken. 

tiers of Peru, probably founding these pretensions 
upon the expedition of Alexis Garcia. 

The Portuguese gave their settlement the name 
of the Colony of the Holy Sacrament, and la- 
boured incessantly to fortify it 5 but were greatly 
disappointed at not receiving some promised re-* 
inforcements from Brazil. In the mean time, 
Garro, having received orders from the viceroy ta 
attack the Portuguese, had collected a force of 
three hundred Spaniards, four thousand; negroes s 
mulattoes, and encomiendas. Indians, and a body 
of three thousand neophytes from the Parana and 
Uraguay reductions,; and Don Antonio de Vera 
Muzica, who had the command of the siege, did 
not find much difficulty in surprising and storm- 
ing the fort, with the loss of about thirty-six men. 
The Portuguese had about two hundred killed. 

The destruction of this infant colony was highly 
resented by the court of Portugal, and was nearly 
the occasion of a rupture. In t682, a convention, 
however, was entered into, by which the Portu- 
guese were to be allowed a settlement there, pro- 
vided that the property of the soil should remain 
vested in the crown of Spain, that no fort should 
be erected, that only fourteen Portuguese families 
should be allowed to reside there, that both the co- 
lony and the ships resorting to it should be liable to 
be visited by the governor of Buenos Ayres, and 
that the disputes as to the limits of the two crowns 
should be referred to the pope to be adjusted 



Chiquito missions. 313 

in conformity with the famous line of demarc- 
ation.* 

The Portuguese thus having gained a footing 
on the shores of Rio de la Plata, improved that 
advantage to a great degree, by the contraband 
trade which it enabled them to carry on with the 
Spaniards of Buenos Ay res, and which soon be- 
came an object of jealousy and of alarm to me- 
tropolitan monopoly ; the nature of this trade 
will be more particularly described hereafter. 

The Mamelukes of Brazil, no longer able to 
commit depredations in Guayra, carried their ex- 
cursions more to the north, and by degrees over- 
spread the country with their ravages, till, in 1690, 
they attacked the Chiquito Indians, who, border- 
ing on the province of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, 
were now pressed on both sides. Of this circum- 

* Upon the discovery of America by Columbus, Ferdinand 
applied to the Roman pontiff, who, as the vicar and representative 
of Jesus Christ, was supposed to have a right of dominion over all 
the kingdoms of the earth, for a grant of the western world. 
Alexander VI. by an act of liberality, which cost him nothing, 
but which served to establish the jurisdiction and pretensions of 
the papal see, conferred on the crown of Castile, regions of vast ex- 
tent with whose situation he was unacquainted, and of whose 
existence even he was ignorant. As it was necessary to prevent 
this grant from interfering with that formerly made to the crown 
of Portugal, the pontiff appointed a line to be drawn from pole to 
pole, one hundred leagues to the westward of the Azores; and, in 
the plenitude of his power, he bestowed all to the east of this 
imaginary line upon the Portuguese, and all to the west of it upon 
the Spaniards. 



314 Chiqulto missions, 

stance, Don Augustus de la Concha took advan- 
tage, and prevailed on the Chiquitos to conclude 
a peace with the Spaniards, which was followed by 
their conversion to Christianity. In 1692, the 

N Jesuits undertook the establishment of missions 
amongst them, and by the most ardent persever- 
ance, founded a similar republic to that which 
had so long flourished under their auspices 
amongst the Guaranis. 

This was, however, effected sorely against the 
wishes of the Spanish inhabitants of Santa Cruz, 
who carried on a traffic in slaves, accompanied 
by all the violence, the injustice, and the immo- 
rality, which invariably attends that nefarious 
trade. A slave-company had been established at 
Santa Cruz, by whom a band of adventurers were 
kept in pay to make inroads into the Indian coun- 
try, for the capture of slaves. These they sent 
into Peru, where they were sold for the work of 
the mines, and other purposes. The great num- 
bers, however, had so much reduced the price of 
them, that a woman and her child might be had 
for an ewe and her lamb. They well knew that 

v the Jesuit-missionaries would not suffer their 
neophytes to be oppressed, and that they were 
not in w r ant of proper means to insure them pro- 
tection. Their establishment, therefore, was 
thwarted by all the means of fraud or force, that 
interested iniquity could employ; but in vain, 
for with the address and perseverance which dis- 
tinguished their order, the Jesuits firmly seated 



Accession of Philip V. 315 

themselves amongst the Chiquitos ; In 1696, 
three reductions were formed, and in about thirty- 
years they had founded seven towns, each con- 
sisting of upwards" of six hundred families. 

Philip V. of the house of Bourbon, having now 
ascended the throne of Spain, became very appre- 
hensive of an attack upon his South American 
possessions by the allies of the house of Austria, 
and directed the fortification of the various access- 
ible points ; whilst the Portuguese thought this a 
good opportunity to attempt the permanent re- 
establishment of their colony of St. Sacrament; 
and in 1705, they were found to have re-peopled 
it and fortified it, contrary to the convention which 
had been entered into on the subject. Looking 
upon this breach of engagement as sufficient au- 
thority, the Spanish provincial government imme- 
diately assembled a force, and besieged and took 
the place. On this occasion, as on the former 
one just recited, four thousand neophytes from 
the Parana and Uraguay reductions, are stated to 
have performed the most material services, and to 
have refused the sum of one hundred and eighty 
thousand piastres offered them by the governor of 
Rio d€ la Plata, being the amount of a real and a 
half per man per day, the rate at which the other 
Indians were paid when they took the field in aid 
of the Spaniards. 

The dominion of Spain acquired considerable 
extension in the interior of the country, by theV 
exertion of Don Esteyan de Urizar, who was 



316 



Don Estevan de Urizar. 



governor of Tucuman, from 170.5, till his death in 
1724; an exception made in his favour to a rule 
which had now begun to be adopted of continuing 
the governors of the provinces subordinate to the 
viceroy of Peru, only five years in their dignities. 
The length and prosperity of his administration 
add confirmation to the character given of him by 
his encomiasts, as a man possessed of all the ta- 
lents requisite to form a perfect general, an up- 
right magistrate, and a true Christian. 

In the course of the religious and military expe* 
ditions, undertaken by Urizar, various Indian na-^ 
tions, hitherto even unknown by name to the 
Spaniards, were reduced under their dominion, or 
brought within the pale of the church, 

A scene of tumult and rebellion now occurred 
in Paraguay, which lasted for several years, and 
which though apparently arising from a circum- 
stance of trivial import, may, with more propriety, 
be ascribed to the leaven left by the dissentions 
and insubordination that prevailed in the time of 
Cardenas, 

The nomination, as governor of Paraguay, in 
1717 5 of Don Diego de los Reyes, an Andalusian 
gentleman, settled at Assumption, where he was 
provincial alcalde, gave umbrage to many who, 
considering themselves as his superior, in point of 
birth, rank, and service, could not brook his ele- 
vation ; and, although he was a man of courteous 
and affable demeanor, of strict honour, and of good 
connections in the province, it was even in con-; 



Don Joseph de Antequera. 317 

tempiation to opposeiiis reception, on the ground 
of its being illegal for an inhabitant of the place 
to become its governor. Don Diego, however, 
entered upon the exercise of his authority, but, in 
a short time, found that intrigues were running 
so high, that he was obliged, to defeat a conspiracy 
formed, against him, to imprison two of the 
principal men of the city. This produced a fer- 
ment, and a criminal prosecution against him be- 
fore the royal audience of La Plata. Unhappily, 
the measure they pursued tended more to embroil 
matters. They appointed Don Joseph de Ante- 
quera y Castro, knight of Alcantara, a man of fa- 
mily, genius, and learning, but ambitious, deceit- 
ful, and intriguing, as judge-informer of Paraguay, 
with a dormant commission to succeed to the 
government at the end of the five years, when 
Don Diego's period should have expired. 

On Antequera's arrival at Assumption, Don 
Diego was absent on a visit to the reductions on 
the Parana; and, a few days after, the Guyacu- 
rus approaching close to the capital, drew some 
Spaniards into an ambuscade. Antequera took 
advantage of this circumstance, to declaim on the 
evil government that allowed of the insults of the 
Indians, even in sight of the capital; and Don 
Diego's enemies having made an offer to acknow- 
ledge Antequera as governor, he accepted it, 
proclaimed his promotion, summoned a council, 
and entered upon the exercise of his new dignity 
without opposition. 



SIS Antequera* s usurpation 

A law is stated to have been in existence, by 
which a judge-informer was prohibited from suc- 
ceeding a governor against whom he had in- 
formed ; but it was in vain this law was repre- 
sented to the council. The royal audience had 
overlooked it, and Antequera haughtily observed, 
that this law was not made for those, who, like 
him, had the honour of being members of that 
august tribunal. 

On hearing the situation of affairs at Assump- 
tion, Don Diego returned thither, but was seized 
and confined, and his staff of command was 
wrested from him. A long process was in- 
stituted against him, and, at length, fearing an 
attempt upon his life, he evaded his guards and 
fled to Buenos Ayres, intending to proceed to 
Spain, in order to implore, in person, the justice 
of his royal master. • In the mean time, the arch- 
bishop of Lima, viceroy of Peru, on learning these 
"transactions, issued a new commission, dated .1 6th 
cf February, 1722, re-instating the deposed go- 
vernor, annulling the proceedings at Assumption, 
and ordering Antequera to quit the province im-. 
mediately. Don Diego, therefore, abandoned his 
design of going to Spain, and* not supposing that 
Antequera would dare to oppose the viceroy's 
orders, expected to be quietly replaced in his 
government. 

Antequera, however, had gone too far to recede^ 
and depending upon the support of the royal au-. 
dience, who on this subject were at variance witk 



of the government. 319 

the viceroy, attempted afresh, but without suc- 
cess, to seize Don Diego's person, who had ad- 
vanced within twenty-five leagues of Assumption. 
He defended his resistance of the viceroy's orders 
by a casuistry not ill adapted to the manners and 
inclinations of his hearers. " It is certain," said 
he, " that in provinces so distant from court, it is 
" lawful to make even three representations to his 
" majesty before his orders are obeyed. Now, how 
*' much more allowable must this be in regard to 
" the orders of a viceroy?" 

The proceedings of Antequera are represented, 
as they might naturally be supposed to be in a 
man like him contemning the orders of his supe- 
riors, and trusting to time and good fortune for 
his maintenance in his government, as violent and 
tyrannic towards his opponents, indulgent and 
propitious to his adherents. The Jesuits came in 
for a considerable share of his jealousy and enmity ; 
their republic in Paraguay jostled perhaps with 
his ambitious views, and he considered them as his 
rivals in the independent empire his subsequent ac- 
tions shewed he contemplated to establish. At all 
events, he was fearful of the assistance Don Diego 
might gain from the Indians of the reductions ; and 
all the old accusations against the society were assi_- : 
duously revived and warmly pursued. 

At variance with the viceroy, the royal audi- 
ence in the mean time issued a decree on the 3d 
March, 17-23, forbidding provisionally any alte- 
ration in the present government of Paraguay. 



3i0 Rebellion of Antequera. 

Antequera on this occasion undertook to prove* 
by another subtlety, that the decrees of the royal 
audience were superior to those of the viceroy, 
inasmuch as those of the former were given in the 
king's name, and began, Don Philip, by the grace 
of God, $c. whilst the edicts of the viceroy were 
in his own name, and began, Don Fray Diego 
Marcillo, <§c. Subsequent orders from the vice- 
roy were treated with equal contempt. Ante* 
quera openly avowed his resolution to maintain 
himself in his government in despite of all the 
dispatches he might receive from Lima; and it 
soon became evident that he aimed at the sove- 
reignty of Paraguay. 

To curb his ambition, without driving into 
open rebellion, a man of Antequera' s influence, 
wealth, and talent, now became an object of great 
solicitude; and Don Balthazar Garcia Ros, the 
king's lieutenant at Buenos Ayres, and formerly 
governor of Paraguay, was entrusted with the 
delicate and important commission. Negotiation, 
however, was useless; Antequera passed the Ru* 
bicon, by sending an armed force under one of his 
trusty adherents, Ramon de las Lianas, to seize 
Don Diego at Corrientes, a town w ithin the juris- 
diction of the governor of Rio de la Plata, and 
where he considered himself in safety. He was 
carried to Assumption, thrown into a dungeon, 
and loaded with chains. Don Balthazar could only 
lament this outrage, as lie had not then a sufficient 
force to attack Antequera in his own province. 



Jesuits expelled by Antequera. 32 * 

During these transactions, Zabala, the go- 
vernor of Rio de la Plata, who supposed that Don 
Balthazar was actually in possession of the pro- 
vince of Paraguay, sent to Assumption for as- 
sistance against the Portuguese who threatened 
the port of Montevideo, which had been surveyed 
and settled about this time, and was the only fort 
the Spaniards possessed on the eastern bank of the 
river, since Philip V. had, by the treaty of 
Utrecht, ceded the colony of the Holy Sacrament 
to Portugal. The court of Lisbon claimed, in 
consequence of this cession, the whole of the 
coast from the ancient limits of Brazil to St. Sa- 
crament; but the court of Madrid, refusing to 
allow of this interpretation of the treaty, directed 
the port of Montevideo to be fortified in order to 
secure the navigation of the river. Antequera 
thought this a good opportunity to get rid of all 
those he suspected, and of shewing at the same 
time his zeal for the king's service, whose autho- 
rity he had not yet openly disavowed ; and he dis- 
patched the succours required to Buenos Ayres. 

In 1724, all pacific measures proving useless, 
Don Balthazar advanced at the head of two thou- 
sand of the reduction Indians, and the other 
provincial troops he could collect, against the 
rebels. The employment of the neophytes in this 
warfare so much irritated Antequera, that he im- 
mediately drove the Jesuits out of their college at 
Assumption, which was the second time they suf- 
fered that disaster. Antequera, at the head of 

Y 



S|$ Defeat of Bon Balthazar. 

three thousand men, marched from Assumption, 
to encounter the king's army, leaving orders with 
Juan de Mena, the alguazil-major, an officer on 
whom he placed the greatest dependance, that, in 
case he was defeated, Don Diego de los Reyes 
should be publicly strangled, and that none of his 
relations should be permitted to survive. In 
answer to some overtures for negotiation, and the 
legal summons he received from Don Balthazar, 
Antequera haughtily replied, that he did not meet 
him in arms to read papers, but to decide their 
•differences by battle. An engagement ensued, 
in which the royal troops were defeated with con- 
siderable slaughter, their, .general fled with preci- 
pitation, and about three hundred of the Indians 
were taken prisoners by the rebels. 

Antequera entered Assumption with triumphal 
pomp. The royal standards taken in the battle 
were trailed before him on the ground, and he dis- 
played his own colours in the cathedral, where a 
Te Deum was performed for his victory. He now 
wavered between an immediate avowal of his ul- 
timate ambition, and a more temporizing system. 
Had he, in the moment of success, adopted the 
measure which afterwards formed one of the 
objects of accusation against him, that of usurp- 
ing the sovereign government, under the title of 
Don Joseph I. king of Paraguay, the tide might 
have turned completely in his favour; but more 
cautious, or more timid, than became his dan- 
gerous and desperate situation, he still nominally 



Address of the bishop. 323 

owned the sovereign authority, whose mandates 
he refused to obey, whose troops he had resisted, 
and whose insignia he had treated with ignominy. 

In the interval, the ecclesiastic who had been 
nominated to the episcopal see of Paraguay, being 
detained in Spain by such habitual infirmities as 
never permitted him to see his diocese, Don Jo- 
seph Palos, of the order of St. Francis, and titu- 
lar bishop of Tatillum in Mauritania, was ap- 
pointed his co-adjutor at Assumption. This pre- 
late, well adapted by his outward conciliatory 
manners and devout deportment, as well as by 
the intriguing address he possessed, for the under- 
mining of Antequera's authority, repaired to As- 
sumption, and was well received by him. Secret 
but effectual were the bishop's exertions to de- 
tach the populace from the usurper, and diminish 
the number of his adherents; and when Don 
Bruno de Zabala, who had been ordered by the 
viceroy to repair in person to Assumption, with a 
sufficient force to reduce the rebels, to send Ante- 
quera a prisoner to Lima, and to establish such a 
governor in Paraguay as circumstances required, 
arrived at Corrientes with eight hundred Spaniards 
and six thousand Indians, the bishop even ven- 
tured to publish a mandate excommunicating all 
those w r ho should hinder the governor of Rio de 
la Plata from being received in the city. 

Stunned with this blow, and with the defection, 
or ■ lukewarmness of many of his friends, Ante- 
quera now sought safety in flight, accompanied by 

y 2 



324 Fernand Mompo$ 

a few of his stavmchest adherents; and Zabala en- 
tered Assumption without opposition on the 24th 
of April 172o. The treasure which Antequera 
had amassed, and which is stated, in a letter from 
the co-adjutor to the king, to have been incre- 
dible for the short time of his usurpation, was 
seized by orders from the superior courts; tran- 
quillity was quickly re-established in appearance,, 
and Don Martin de fiorua was left by Zabala in 
the undisputed possession of the government. 

Antequera fled to Cordova, where he took re- 
fuge in a convent; but being outlawed, and a re- 
ward offered for his apprehension, he left that 
asylum, and proceeded through bye-roads to La 
Plata, where he hoped that the royal audience 
would espouse hi§ quarrel. But the new viceroy 
of Peru, the marquis del Castel Fuerte, having 
curtailed the pretensions of that tribunal, he was 
thrown into prison at Lima, as was Juan de 
Mena, who had likewise repaired thither from 
Tucuman. 

New commotions now took place at Assump- 
tion, where the administration of Borua, who was 
suspected of following Antequera*s example, or 
of aiding his views, which appear even in prison 
to have been extended towards his re-establishment 
in Paraguay, had become obnoxious to the vice- 
roy, and Don Ignatius Soroeta had been nominated 
to succeed him. One Fernand Mxxmpo, who 
made his escape out of the prison in which Ante- 
quera was confined, repaired to Assumption, where,, 



a popular demagogue. 325 

from the recommendations given him by his 
fellow-prisoner, he obtained a municipal situation. 
Mompo was, or pretended to be, versed in the 
law, and with a boldness that raised him to popu- 
larity, and an eloquence suited to the turbulence 
of the times, he promulgated the levelling doctrines 
of the present age, and asserted as a maxim 
which had never been contradicted, that the au- 
thority of the people, or of the commune^ as he 
expressed himself, was paramount even to that of 
the king himself. The sovereignty of the people, 
thus openly preached in the capital of a colony of 
one of the most despotic and bigoted courts of 
Europe, nearly two centuries ago, is a phenomenon 
in politics, which, it is believed, has escaped the re- 
searches of historians and of philosophers ; but 
serves to shew that reiterated periods of popular 
ferment and anarchy will, in all cases, produce the 
same effects, " We must oppose," said he, " the 
M reception of this new governor in the name of 
" the Commune, and then no one in particular 
M can be called to account for it," an expedient 
which, whilst it encouraged the sedition of the 
bold, soothed also the fears of the timid. Under 
the name of the Commune, therefore, a popular 
faction was formed, and assemblies held subver- 
sive of order, and destructive to the prosperity of 
the province. 

These disorders commenced in 1730, and Borna 
having abdicated his government, whilst the Com- 
mune would not admit Soroeta, the province re* 

y 3 



3 26 Fact ion of the Commune. 

mained some time without any head ; the city was 
exposed to pillage by the partizans of the different 
factions; the bishop abandoned the place; and 
what little traces of authority were met with ema- 
nated from Mompo, the author and oracle of the 
Commune. 

The Commune, however, now perceived that it 
was necessary to give their government some regular 
form; and they erected a junto or council, the pre- 
sident of which they resolved should be styled pre- 
sident of the province. To fill this station they ap- 
pointed the first alcalde, Barreyro, who had hitherto 
appeared to favour their views. He proved him- 
self, however, a loyal subject, and, with a view 
of restoring the province to order and subordina- 
tion, found means to seize Mompo, and to convey 
him to Buenos Ayres. He was thence sent by 
Zabala to Lima, but was rescued on the way, and 
made his escape to Brazil. Barreyro now began 
to raise troops, which was done likewise by his 
opponents in the junto, but finding it impossible 
to maintain himself, he fled to the reductions, and 
Michael de Garai was appointed to succeed him as 
president of the junto in 1732. 

All this time the proceedings against Antequera 
and his accomplices were going on at Lima, and 
after a confinement of upwards of five years, he 
was found guilty of high treason, and sentenced 
to be beheaded, together with Juan de Mena, 
which sentence was executed on the 5th of July 
1731. So great, however, was the popular com- 



Execution of Antequera. 327 

motion, and the interest which Antequera had ex- 
cited by his ingenious writings and voluminous 
memorials in justification or extenuation of his 
conduct, that the viceroy was himself obliged to 
take horse on the occasion ; and to prevent the 
rescue of Antequera by the populace, he was shot, 
by the viceroy's orders, on his way to the scaffold, 
where his body was decapitated. 

The execution of Antequera and Mena pro- 
duced a* great sensation at Assumption. Most of 
those who composed the Commune had been ac- 
complices in the crimes which had brought them 
to the scaffold ; and nothing was heard but enco- 
miums on these two men, who were called victims of 
oppression, and were canonized as martyrs of liberty. 
The daughter of Juan de Mena had married Ramon 
de las Lianas, who was lately dead, and she was 
then in mourning for him ; the day, however, 
that she heard of her father's death, she threw off 
her weeds, and appeared publicly in her richest 
apparel, declaring that it would be unbecoming 
in her to wear any marks of affliction after receiv- 
ing the news of a death so gloriously suffered in 
the cause of her country and of freedom. 

In a riot that occurred immediately after, the 
Jesuits were expelled, for the third time, from 
their college at Assumption ; and, though an in^ 
terdict was laid on the city by the bishop, in con- 
sequence of the violences that had been committed, 
he was prevailed on to take it off again upon a 
threatened attack by the Guyacurus. The con- 

Y 4 



328 Don Manuel de Ruiloha. 



tagion now spread to Corrientes and a treaty of 
association was entered into, between that town 
and the Commune of Paraguay ; the king's lieu- 
tenant at Conientes was sent bound to Assump- 
tion, and they even sent deputies to Buenos 
Ayres, to acquaint the governor with what they 
had done, alleging it was for his majesty's interest, 
and that they had no doubt of his approving it, 
and confirming the new government they had 
established, in the name and by the authority of 
the Commune, as well as the officers they had 
chosen, and leaving the republic at liberty to de- 
pose them and put others in their places, when 
they should judge it requisite for his majesty's 
service. 

During all this time, the Commune had troops 
on foot, which were encamped on the frontiers, 
and kept in check a body of neophytes, that lay 
in constant readiness to enter the province, or to 
defend the reductions in case the Commune should 
attempt to attack them, as had been repeatedly 
menaced. Preparations were likewise made for 
opposing the entrance of a new governor that had 
been appointed for Paraguay, Don Manuel de 
Ruiloba ; but, overawed by the accumulation of 
the neophyte army, now r amounting to upwards of 
seven thousand men, disunited amongst them- 
selves, and tampered with by the address of the 
bishop, the Commune, at length, gave way, and 
Don Manuel entered Assumption, in July 1733. 
Short, however, was the deceitful tranquillity 



General Junto formed. 329 

which ensued ; the discontents occasioned by 
the principal heads of the Commune being de- 
prived of all places of trust and emolument, soon 
degenerated into open revolt, and Don Manuel, 
who could only muster about three hundred men, 
and was even abandoned by most of them at the 
crisis, was dragged from his horse, and murdered 
by the rebels, on the 15th of September, in the 
same year. 

The bishop of Buenos Ay res, a man of a tur- 
bulent and factious disposition, and who had 
come to Assumption to be consecrated by the 
bishop of Paraguay, had greatly ingratiated him- 
self with the chiefs of the C ommune ; and he was 
chosen governor of the province by them, of which 
office he accepted. The name of Commune was 
now changed into that of General Junto, and the 
chief of it was invested with the title of Defender. 
The first to whom this title was given, was Don 
Juan Ortiz de Vergara, who engaged the faction 
to take various steps, which they had not hitherto 
had courage to venture upon; such as the con- 
fiscation of the property, and the imprisonment of 
the persons, of all who disavowed or disputed the 
authority of the General Junto. The bishop- 
governor wished to check the impetuosity of their 
career, but he found his authority too weak. In 
fact, they only acknowledged him as governor 
when they wanted his countenance, or to corro- 
borate their edicts, which they generally presented 
to him ready drawn up, and obliged him to sign 



330 Rebels defeated bij Z.abala. 

them. The conduct of this prelate greatly scan- 
dalized the clergy, in thus leaving his own eccle- 
siastical charge, and making himself the chief of a 
party who were in rebellion against their sovereign, 
in the diocese of another. 

The bishop of Paraguay endeavoured, with his 
accustomed address, to stem the torrent of the 
revolutionary faction, in which there were now 
few noblemen left, the populace having got the 
upper hand in all the deliberations, and aiming to 
establish a democratical government, in which 
ignorance and insolence were the only rules of 
conduct, or titles to command. He succeeded in 
representing to the bishop-governor, his incon- 
gruous conduct, and, detaching him from the 
cause he was engaged in, prevailed on him to 
withdraw from Assumption, and repair to his own 
diocese. Zabala, on his side, prepared for offen- 
sive operations : and, in the beginning of 173*5, 
advanced against the rebels, with the troops he 
could muster, consisting principally of neophytes. 
The Junto, on their side, notwithstanding that the 
Defender had just died, that many intestine divi- 
sions prevailed amongst themselves, and that the 
bishop had the courage to excommunicate them and 
their adherents, prepared for a vigorous resistance. 
At Tabati, an engagement took place, in which 
the troops of the Junto were entirely defeated, 
with the loss of their artillery, ammunition, and 
baggage, and their principal leaders were amongst 
the prisoners. This blow crushed the rebellion, 



Tranquillity restored. 331 

and shortly after, four others of their chiefs were 
surrendered to Zabala, who had offered five thou- 
sand piastres for their apprehension ; two only of 
the leaders made their escape, taking refuge 
amongst the hostile Indians, and thence getting 
into Brazil. The prisoners were tried, some of 
them executed, and others banished to Chili. 

Zabala proceeded to tranquillize the province, to 
re-establish order, and to correct the abuses, and re- 
strain the enormities,which had crept into existence, 
ever since the time when Antequera first made his 
appearance at Assumption, with a sedateness and 
dispatch, which caused general astonishment. 
The Jesuits were, of course, reinstated with honour 
in their college, and the services and fidelity of 
the reduction Indians, in all these civil dissentions 
were highly extolled, and warmly acknowledged. 

A short time after this, a squadron arrived from 
Spain at Buenos Ayres, in order to assist at 
the reduction of the Portuguese colony of St. 
Sacrament. Zabala went thither for the same 
purpose; but, after a siege of four months, the 
Spaniards were compelled to retire with loss, and 
the Portuguese continued in possession of the 
place. It is probable, that the mutual advantages 
which the colonists of both nations enjoyed, by 
this convenient entrepot for their contraband 
trade, may have paralyzed the efforts of the pro- 
vincials. Zabala died, in 1737, at Buenos Ayres. 

Endeavours were made, in 1738, to civilize and 
convert the Indians of Chaco, who had committed 
great ravages in the Spanish settlements ; and ex- 



332 Chiquito and other missions. 

peditions were undertaken in the interior, with 
various success. An easier communication be* 
tween Peru arid Paraguay was tried to be esta- 
blished, by means of the Pilcomayo, but did not 
succeed, owing to the total failure, in 1740, of the 
water in that river ; and, in the same year, the 
Portuguese were found to have penetrated across 
the upper part of the Paraguay, very nearly to 
the confines of Peru, where they carried on a 
clandestine trade, or made excursions for the carry- 
ing off of slaves. The discovery of the extent and 
nature of these expeditions was made by the Je- 
suits of the CJiiquito reductions, which had as- 
sumed a respectable form, and had been consti? 
tuted into a republic, similar to that on the banks 
of the Parana and Uraguay, In 1732, they con- 
sisted of seven towns, each containing six hundred 
families; and in 1746, the dominion of Spain was 
equally acknowledged by these reductions, by the 
payment of an annual tribute, in the same man- 
ner as the others. The rudiments of another re- 
public, of the same nature, appear about this time 
to have been cast amongst the Moxos ; and an at-, 
tempt was made of the like kind amongst the 
tribes of Indians south of Buenos Ayres. The 
Jesuits appear to have had in view the confedera- 
tion and consolidation of all these states, which 
would, no doubt, had time been allowed them to 
perfect their plan, have acquired a degree of im- 
portance, commensurate with the grand objects of 
philanthropy, or of ambition, which the society 
are supposed to have had in view. 



Jesuits again accused. 333 

But, alarmed at the number, extent, and im- 
portance of these establishments, jealous of their 
prosperity, and exasperated at the subduction from 
their sway of so many Indians, whom they con- 
sidered as their property, the Spanish colonists 
incessantly laboured to discredit the Jesuits and 
their neophytes at the court of Madrid. Accusa- 
tions were heaped on accusations, and though the 
Jesuits, with their wonted, address, parried most 
of these attacks, and either solidly refuted, or so- 
phistically evaded, the aspersions thus cast upon 
them, the slight impressions that were made in 
the commencement were, by degrees, strength- 
ened, and, at length, produced the catastrophe of 
the total abrogation of their society. In the jus- 
tificatory memorial of father d'Aguilar, drawn up 
in 1738, from which Muratori framed his €hris« 
tianesimo felice, a tone of menace is observable, 
but ill concealed beneath the garb of humility 
and obedience it assumes. If the neophytes, he 
remarks, be driven to revolt, the evil would be as 
incurable as easily occasioned ; and he insinuates 
that the remaining Spanish settlements would be 
in the greatest danger from a very considerable 
well armed and well disciplined force, of whom the 
turbulent and ferocious Mamelukes stood in awe, 
and who had measured their strength with the 
best Spanish and Portuguese colonial troops. The 
storm, however, blew over for the present, and in 
1745, a royal decree confirmed them in ail their 
rights and immunities. In that year, a calamity 



334 Missions amongst the Pampas. 

is recorded to have occurred in the reductions of 
the Parana, which threatened their total destruc- 
tion. Severe frosts, such as had not been known in 
the memory of man, with showers of hail equally 
unusual, followed by swarms of locusts, destroyed 
almost every production of the earth ; whilst, on the 
Uraguay, an unprecedented drought reduced the 
reductions in that quarter to the same distressful 
situation; and the famine which followed would 
have been severely felt, but for the providence of 
the Jesuits, the wisdom of whose institutions were 
so apparent in this calamity, that the necessaries 
of life were distributed from their public stores in 
quantities adequate to the support of the inhabit- 
ants. The number of the neophytes in this pro- 
vince, at the close of the year 1745, is stated to 
have been 87,240. 

The attempts to civilize and convert the southern 
Indians, known by the Spaniards under the ge- 
neral name of Pampas, though subdivided into 
many distinct tribes, were begun in 1740, when a 
number of them were united, under two mission- 
aries in a reduction called Conception, a little to 
the south-east of Buenos Ay res. The vicinity of 
this city proved, however, highly inimical to the 
establishment; and the passion for spirituous li- 
quors, which prevailed amongst these Indians, 
found ready means of gratification, and retarded 
their advancement to the same degree of civiliza- 
tion as was observable amongst the Guaranis and 
Chiquitos. 



Hostilities with the Indians. 335 



The Pnelches and Moluches, the principal tribes 
of those Indians, acknowledged, in some measure, 
the authority of a cacique, resident at Huechin, 
on the great river of the south, Rio Negro, whose 
policy it was to maintain peace with the Spaniards, 
that his people might hunt with security in the 
vast plains of Buenos Ayres, between the frontiers 
of Matanza, Conchas, Magdalena, and the moun- 
tains. On the other hand, those tribes that reside 
amongst the mountains, on the west, were gene- 
rally at war; and, in 1738, the Spaniards, in the 
course of their hostilities, attacked, without dis- 
crimination, all the Indians they met with. A 
nephew of the great cacique of Huechin, who had 
always been on friendly terms with the Spaniards, 
was killed by them, and other enormities com- 
mitted, which so exasperated the Puelches and 
Moluches, that they all took arms against the 
Spaniards, who found themselves attacked at 
once from the vicinity of Cordova and Santa Fe, 
down the whole length of the Plata, on a frontier 
of three hundred miles; and, in- such a manner, , 
that it was impracticable to defend themselves ; 
for the Indians fell, in small flying parties, on 
many villages and estancias at the same time, 
and generally in the night. Cacapol, the Hue- 
chin cacique, took the field at the head of four 
thousand men, and fell upon the district of Mag- 
dalen, only twelve miles from Buenos Ayres, and 
scoured and depopulated in one day and a night, 
about forty miles of a most populous and plenti- 



836 The cacique CangctpoL 

ful country. They killed many Spaniards, and 
took a great number of women and children cap- 
tives, with above twenty thousand-head of cattle. 
In the following year, Cangapol,* the son of 
the veteran cacique, just mentioned, surnamed, 
by the Spaniards, the cacique Bravo, attacked 
them again; but, at length, through the media- 
tion of his sister, who had been converted to 
Christianity, and resided amongst the neophytes 
at Conception, a pacification was brought about, 
accompanied by a mutual restoration of-prisoners. 
A boundary-line was fixed upon for the respective 
territories of the Spaniards and Indians; and 
the settlement remained unmolested by them, 
till the year 1767, when, upon some fresh pro- 
vocation, hostilities were recommenced, many 
Spaniards were carried away into captivity, 
and much damage was done to the country. 
Peace, however, was again speedily re-established, 
and it is not known to have been interrupted 
ever since. 

The establishment of the Portuguese at St. 
Sacrament continued to be the occasion of 
much dissention between the courts of Madrid 

* The portrait of this cacique, and of his wife, ia given as a 
specimen of the appearance and dress of the Indians. It is taken 
from a drawing made from life, by Thomas Falkner, an English 
Jesuit, who resided many years as a missionary in that country, 
and published an account of it, under the title of " A description of 
Patagonia," which is replete with information. Cangapol was up- 
wards of seven feet in height. 



St. Sacrament ceded to Spain. 337 

and of Lisbon. The former saw with pain the 
contraband trade which was carried on there: the 
Portuguese imported from Rio Janeiro, and fur- 
nished to Buenos Ayres, negro slaves, wines, 
brandies, tobacco, and various European com- 
modities, and received provisions, hides, salted 
and jerked beef, and above all, silver, in return. 
Part of the treasures of Peru were thus diverted 
from the Spanish commerce, and the evil effects 
of this trade became every day more apparent in 
the diminution of that between Buenos Ayres and 
Spain. At length, after continual discussions, and 
unvarying bickerings, a convention was entered 
into at Madrid in 17^0, by which Portugal ceded 
to Spain the colony of St. Sacrament, and her 
claim to the whole of the northen shore of Rio de 
la Plata, and Spain gave up to Portugal, seven of 
the Guarani reductions, situated on the eastern 
side of the Uraguay, with the territory belonging 
to them. 

This arrangement was censured in both coun- 
tries, and the Jesuits felt great repugnance to have 
their dominions thus dismembered, and disposed of 
without their concurrence. The execution of this 
treaty, hence, became, in America, a matter of diffi- 
culty. The Guaranis had not been subjugated; 
they had voluntarily submitted to Spain; and they 
did not suppose that they had bestowed upon 
Spain a right to give them away. Without having 
deeply studied the subtleties of politics, or the 
law of nations, they probably thought themselves 

Z 



888 Resistance of the Jesuits. 

the best judges of what was most conducive to 
their own happiness* and their hatred of the Portu- 
guese name, in consequence of what they had suf- 
fered from their Brazilian neighbours, was suffi- 
cient to inspire them with an invincible repug- 
nance to be incorporated with them. They took 
up arms in defence of their rights, and were not 
dismayed by the united standards of Spain and of 
Portugal displayed against them. 

A cautious veil has been thrown over these 
transactions, and though it is certain that the 
Guaranis were at length subdued, they resisted, 
for several years, the efforts of both the Spanish 
and Portuguese colonial soldiers that were sent 
against them, nor yielded but to repeated supplies 
of fresh troops from Europe. That the Jesuits 
encouraged, and even headed this resistance, has 
been both alleged and denied. The probability is, 
that they secretly aided, though they openly dis- 
avowed it. It is certain that one of their order, 
father Nicholas de Leuco, maintained for a great 
part of this period, an independent authority there, 
and it was even rumoured that he had assumed the 
title -of king of Paraguay by the style of Don 
Nicholas I. But his efforts were not acknow- 
ledged by the chiefs of the society of Europe ; 
and the Guaranis having been defeated in some 
decisive actions about the year 17*59, they deter- 
mined to abandon their country; to carry with 
them all they could; set fire to the remainder; 
and leave nothing but a desert to their enemies. 



Jesuits finally ex veiled. 330 

Eliey carried this resolution partly into eiTect, and 
though by their dispersion, the Portuguese were 
put iu possession of the country, the colony of 
St. Sacrament was refused to be delivered up to 
the Spaniards, on the ground that the inhabitants 
of Uraguay were dispersed, not subdued, and that 
unless they were fixed in some other part, they 
would always be ready to fall upon a territory, to 
which they gave a decided preference. In conse- 
quence of these difficulties, it was in fine recipro- 
cally determined to annul the convention of 1730, 
so that in 1761 things returned again to their 
ancient footing. 

But the prosperity of the reductions was now 
fled, and the proscription of the Jesuits, which 
soon folio wed, gave a mortal blow to them. In 
the course of the prosecutions that were carried on 
against their society in Portugal and in France, 
the volumes of their institutes were produced. 
By these authentic records, the principles of their 
government were discovered, and the sources of 
their power investigated, with a degree of cer- 
tainty, which, previously to that period, it was 
impossible to attain. They were expelled from 
Portugal in 17«5 ( J> from France in 176-i, from 
Spain and Naples in 1767, and their society 
was totally abolished in 1775, by pope Clement 
XIY. 

Their expulsion from Spain was of course fol- 
lowed by the complete subversion of their empire 
in Paraguay; where, overwhelmed, by the disgrace 

z 2 



34:0 St. Sacrament again ceded to Spain. 

of their order in Europe, they made no resist- 
ance ; and their missions were quietly changed 
into regular Spanish settlements, whilst the spi- 
ritual care of the Indians was confided to the 
monks of St. Dominic, St. Francis, and the order 
of Mercy. Notwithstanding the distractions that 
had, for several years, prevailed in the reductions, 
their prosperity at the time of the final expulsion 
of the Jesuits, may be in some measure estimated 
by the number of cattle which are recorded to 
have been found in them, viz. 769,353 head of 
horned cattle, 94,983 horses, and 221,537 sheep. 

Of the actual state of that part of Paraguay 
which constituted this celebrated republic, little 
is known. Border-hostilities between the Portu- 
guese of Brazil and the Spanish Indians, conti- 
nued to exist, at times tolerated, at times checked, 
and at times openly encouraged, by the respective 
governments. In the beginning of 1778, the Por- 
tuguese gave up finally to Spain, the colony of 
St. Sacrament, receiving back, however, by the 
same treaty, the territory and port of San Pedro, 
which had been wrested from them upon the stale 
pretence of the line of demarcation, together 
with an increase of their Brazilian territory along 
the sea-coast to its present limit, as already de- 
scribed. 

The difficulties, as well as the dangers, attend* 
ant upon the wide extension of the vice-royalty 
of Peru, had been long felt. Occasion has been 
elsewhere taken to expatiate upon them, and it is 



Insurrection of the Indians. 3 

only necessary here to state, that the separation of 
the provinces of Buenos Ay res, Paraguay, Tueu- 
man, Los Charcas, and Cuyo, from the vice-roy- 
alty of Peru, in 1?7S, and their erection into a 
separate vice-royalty, of which Buenos Ayres is 
the capital, was found most essentially conducive 
to the prosperity and tranquillity of the country, 
and to the advantage of the parent-state. An ex- 
tensive insurrection amongst the Indians of Los 
Charcas and Peru, which occurred in 1779, is the 
only event of prominent importance that occurs in 
the colonial annals ; no details of this rebellion 
have appeared in Europe ; but it was attended by 
great ravages, and quelled with considerable dif- 
ficulty. Amongst the Guarani reductions, or pre- 
sidencies, as they are now called, a spirit of dis- 
affection is stated to have lately appeared, and in 
1798 to have broken out with considerable vio- 
lence, but the extent and termination of the in- 
surrection has been kept secret. 

The introduction, or alteration, of commer- 
cial regulations with respect to this colony, as 
they occurred from time to time, will find ano- 
ther place, and have not therefore been noticed in 
this historical sketch, to complete which nothing 
now remains but to give an account of the cap- 
ture of Buenos Ayres by Sir Home Popham and 
General Beresford ; which cannot be better done 
than in the words of those commanders, as pub- 
lished in the London Gazette, as follows : 

1 3 



84? 



Capture of Buenos. Ay res. 



London Gazette Extraordinary, Sept. 13, 1S06, 

Extracts of dispatches from Commodore Sir Home 

Popham, and Major-General W. C. Beresford. 

Narcissus, off Buenos Ay res. 
Sir, July 6, 1806. 

In the letter which I had the honour to address 
you from St. Helena on the 30th of April, I fully 
explained, for the information of my lords com- 
missioners of the Admiralty, the motives that 
induced me to press so strongly the urgency 
and expediency of undertaking an expedition 
against the enemy J s settlements in the Rio de la 
Plata. 

I have therefore only to give you a short detail 
of the proceedings of the squadron ; previously 
congratulating their lordships on his majesty's 
forces being in full possession of Buenos Ayres 
and its dependencies ; the capital of one of the 
richest and most extensive provinces of South 
America. 

To the commerce of Great Britain it exhibits 
peculiar advantages, as well as to the active in- 
dustry of her manufacturing towns. And when 
I venture in addition to assure their lordships of 
the -extreme healthiness of the climate, I trust 
1 only hold out a consolation that the friends 
of every person employed on this expedition are 
justly entitled to, and which I a in satisfied will 
be equally gratifying to tlie feelings of every 
British subject. 



bij the British. S \3 

As I considered it an object of material con- 
sequence to obtain the earliest local informa- 
tion in the river, I placed the squadron under 
the direction of captain Rowley on the £7th of 
May, and preceded it in the Narcissus for that 
purpose. 

On the 8th ult. we anchored near the island of 
Flores; and, after passing Montevideo the follow- 
ing day, we detained a Portuguese schooner, by 
whom the intelligence we had formerly received 
was generally confirmed. On the 11th we fell in 
with the Encounter and Ocean transport, near the 
south coast of the river ; and on the 13th we joined 
the squadron. 

It was immediately determined to attack the 
capital; and no time was lost in removing the 
marine battalion to the Narcissus, the Encounter, 
and the transports, for the purpose of proceed- 
ing to Buenos Ayres, while the Diadem block- 
aded the port of Montevideo, and the Raison- 
able, and Diomede, by way of demonstration, 
cruised near Maldonado and other assailable 
points. 

Our progress up the river was very much re- 
tarded by the shoal ness of the water, adverse 
winds, and currents, continual fogs, and the 
great inaccuracy of the charts; but by the unre- 
mitting, and laborious exertions of the officers 
and men I had the honour to command, these 
difficulties were surmounted, and the squadron 
anchored on the afternoon of the 25th off Point 

z 4 



344 Capture of Buenos Ay res 

Quelmey a Pouichin, about twelve miles from 
Buenos Ayres. 

As it was impossible for the Narcissus to ap- 
proach the shore, on account of the shoalness of 
the water, the Encounter was run in so close as to 
take the ground, the more effectually to cover 
the debarkation of the army in case of necessity: 
the whole, however, was landed in the course of 
the evening without the least opposition ; con- 
sisting of the detachment of his Majesty's troops 
from the Cape, and that from St. Helena, with 
the marine battalion under the orders of captain 
King, of his majesty's ship the Diadem, which 
was composed of the marines of the squadron, 
augmented by the incorporation of some seamen, 
and three companies of royal blues from the same 
source of enterprize, which had been regularly 
trained for that duty, and dressed in an appropriate 
uniform. 

The enemy was posted at the village of Reduc- 
tion, which was on an eminence about two miles 
from the beach, with the appearance of a fine plain 
between the two armies, which, however, proved 
on the following morning to be only a morass in a 
high state of verdure. 

This in some measure checked our advancement, 
nor did the enemy open his field train till the 
troops were nearly in the middle of the swamp, 
from whence he thought it was impossible for 
them to be extricated. 

The able and excellent disposition of general 



by the British. 

Beresfbrd, and the intrepidity of his army, very 
soon, however, sa-isfied the enemy, that his onlv 
safety was in a precipitate retreat, for we had 
the satisfaction of seeing from the ships near four 
thousand Spanish cavalry flying in every direction, 
leaving their artillery behind them, while our 
troops were ascending the hill with that coolness 
and courage, which has on every occasion marked 
the character of a British soldier, and has been 
exemplified in proportion to the difficulties and 
dangers by which he was opposed. 

I have probably tre passed on a line that does 
not immediately belong to me, but I could not 
resist the gratification of relating to their lord- 
ships what I saw; assuring myself, at the same 
time, they will be convinced, if the enemy had 
given the squadron an equal opportunity, I should 
have had the pleasing duty of reporting an honor- 
able issue to the effect of their eminent zeal and 
exertions. 

On the 27th, in the morning, we saw some firing 
near the banks of the river Chuelo, but it blew so 
hard that it was totally impracticable to have any 
communication with the shore during that day. 

Early on the 38th, a royal salute was fired from 
the castle of Buenos Ay res, in honour of his ma- 
jesty's colours being hoisted in South America, 
and instantly returned by the ships lying off the, 
town. 

I have the honour to be, &c. 

HOME POPHAM. 



SAG Capture of Buenos Aijres 

I have sent lieutenant Groves to take pos- 
session of Ensenaba de Barragon, a port to the 
eastward of Buenos Ay res, where I understand 
there are two gun-vessels and two merchant 
ships. H. P. 

Fort of Buenos Ay res, July 2, 1800. 

The fleet sailed from St. Helena the 2d of 
May, and after a most unexpected long passage, 
made Cape St. Mary on the 8th of June : his ma- 
jesty's ship Narcissus had been dispatched from 
the fleet on the %7%h of May, and Sir Home 
Popham thought it right to proceed in her for the 
purpose of making himself acquainted with the 
navigation of the river, that no delay might occur 
in proceeding immediately on the arrival of the 
troops to such place as our information should in- 
duce us first to attack. I had sent captain Kennet, 
of the royal engineers (not liking myself to leave 
the troops) in the Narcissus, to make such re- 
connoitring of the enemy's places on the river 
as circumstances w 7 ould admit: and to collect 
every possible information concerning them, and 
the strength of the enemy at the several places. 

From fogs and baffiinsf winds we did not 
meet the Narcissus until the sixth day after our 
arrival in the river, and I had there the satisfac- 
tion to see, in company with her, the Ocean 
transport, which had parted from us previous 
to our going to St. Helena. Sir Home Popham 
and myself immediately consulted whether it 



hy the British. 347 

would be better first to attack the town of St. 
Philip of Montevideo, or Buenos Ayres, the 
capital of the provinces; and after much rea- 
soning, we determined to proceed against Buenos 
Ayres, which made it necessary to remove from 
the line of battle ships, the troops and marines, 
and such seamen as were incorporated with the 
latter, and others that had been practised to 
arms during the passage, into the transports, 
and his majesty^s ship Narcissus, which was 
effected on the 16th ult. and though then only 
about ninety miles from Buenos Ayres ; still, 
though to his skill Sir Home Popham added the 
most persevering zeal and assiduity, yet from 
fogs, the intricacy of the navigation, and con- 
tinual opposing winds, it was not until the 24th 
at night, that we reached opposite to it. We 
found ourselves the next morning about eight 
miles from the point of Quihnes, where I pro- 
posed landing, having been informed by an 
Englishman, who was pilot for the river, and 
who had been taken by the Narcissus out of a 
Portuguese vessel, that it was an excellent place, 
and an easy access from it into the country. As 
soon as the wind would permit, on the 25th 
Sir Home Popham took the shipping as near as. 
it was possible for them to go ; and at a conve- 
nient distance for disembarking, which was ef- 
fected in the course of the afternoon and night, 
and without any opposition : the enemy re- 
maining at the village of Reduction, on a height 



318 Capture of Buenos At/res 

about two miles from us in our front : the whole 
intermediate space, as well as to the right and 
left, being a perfect flat ; but my guide informed 
me, that though in winter it was impassable, it 
was then very practicable, and easy for guns to 
pass. 

It was eleven o'clock in the morning of the 
&6th before 1 could move off my ground, and 
the enemy could, from his position, have counted 
every man I had.* He was drawn up along the 
brow of a hill, on which was the village of Re- 
duction, which covered his right flank, and his 
force consisted principally of cavalry, (I have 
been since informed two thousand), with eight 
iield-pieces. The nature of the ground was 
such, that I was under the necessity of going 
directly to his front; and to make my line, as 
much as I could, equal to his, I formed all the 
troops into one line, except the St. Helena in<- 
fan try, of one hundred and fifty men, which I 
formed one hundred and twenty yards in the 
rear, with two field-pieces, with orders to make 
face to the right or left, as either of our flanks 
should be threatened by his cavalry ; I had two 
six -pounders on each flank, and two howitzers, 
in the centre of the first line. In this order 
I advanced against the enemy, and after we 
had got within range of his guns, a tongue of 
swamp crossed our front, and obliged me tQ 

*■ 

* It appears there were in all 1641, including officers. 



by the British. 349 

halt whilst the guns took a small circuit to cross, 
and which was scarcely performed when the 
enemy opened their field pieces on us, at first 
well pointed, but as we advanced at a very 
quick rate, in spite of the boggy ground, that 
very soon obliged us to leave all our guns be- 
hind, his fire did us but little injury. The 71st 
regiment reaching the bottom of the heights in 
a pretty good line, seconded by the marine bat- 
talion, the enemy would not wait their nearer 
approach, but retired from the brow of the hill, 
which our troops gaining, and commencing a fire 
of small arms, he fled with precipitation, leaving 
to us four field-pieces and one tumbril, and we 
saw nothing more of him that day. 

I halted two hours on the field to rest the 
troops, and to make arrangements for taking 
with us the enemy's guns and our own, which 
had now, by the exertions of captain Donelly, 
of his majesty's ship Narcissus, been extricated 
from the bog. He had accidentally landed, and 
accompanied the troops, on seeing them advance 
to the enemy, and I am much indebted to him for 
his voluntary assistance. 

I then marched in hopes of preventing the 
destruction of the bridge over the Rio Chuelo, 
a river at this season of the year not fordable, 
and which lay between us and the city ; distant 
from it about three miles, and eight from our 
then situation; and though I used every dili- 
gence, I had the mortification to see it in flames 



350 Capture of Buenos Ayres 

long before I could reach it. I halted the 
troops for the night a mile from it, and pushed 
on three companies of the 71st,. under lieute- 
nant-colonel Pack, with two howitzers, to the 
bridge, to endeavour to prevent its total de- 
struction. I accompanied this detachment, but 
on reaching the bridge found it entirely con- 
sumed; and as the enemy during the night was 
heard bringing down guns, 1 withdrew the de- 
tachment before light, as their position was 
thought too open and exposed to the enemy's 
fire, who had at nine o'clock, on hearing some 
of our soldiers go to the river to get water, 
opened a fire from their guns, and a considerable 
line of infantry. 

As soon as it was light I sent captain Kennet 
of the engineers to reconnoitre the sides of the 
river, and found that on our side we had little 
or no cover to protect us, whilst the enemy were 
drawn up behind hedges, houses, and in the 
shipping on the opposite bank, the river not 
thirty yards wide. As our situation and cir- 
cumstance could not admit of the least delay, 
I determined to force the passage, and for that 
purpose ordered down the field pieces, which, 
with the addition of those taken from the enemy 
the day before, were eleven (one I had spiked 
and left, not being able to bring it off), to the 
water's edge, and ordered the infantry to remain 
in the rear, under cover, except the light com- 
pany and grenadiers of the 71st. As our guns 



hj the British, 35 1 

approached, the enemy opened a very ill-directed 
fire from great guns and musquetry; the former 
soon ceased after our fire opened, the latter was 
kept up for more than half an hour, but though 
close to us, did us but little or no injury, so ill 
was it directed. We then found means, by 
boats and rafts, to cross a few men over the 
Rio Chuelo, and on ordering all fire to cease, the 
little of them that remained ceased also. 

The troops which had opposed us during these 
two days appear to have been almost entirely 
provincial, with a considerable proportion of 
veteran officers. The numbers that were as- 
sembled to dispute our passage of the river, I 
have been since informed, were about two thou- 
sand infantry. I had no reason from their fire 
to suppose their numbers so great ; the opposi- 
tion was very feeble; the only difficulty was the 
crossing; the river to get at- them. 

By eleven o'clock A. M. I had got some guns 
and the greatest part of the troops across the 
river, and seeing no symptoms of further oppo- 
sition, and learning that the troops in general 
had deserted the city, motives of humanity in- 
duced me to send, by the honorable ensign 
Gordon, a summons to the governor to deliver 
to me the city and fortress, that the excesses 
and calamities which would most probably occur 
if the troops entered in a hostile manner might 
be avoided ; informing him that the British cha- 
racter would insure to them the exercise of their 



352 Capture of Buenos Ayrte 

religion, and protection to their persons and al{ 
private property. He returned to me an officer 
to ask some hours to draw up conditions : but 
1 could not consent to delay my march, which I 
commenced as soon as the whole had crossed 
the Rio Chuelo; and, on arriving near the city, 
an officer from the governor again met me. with 
a number of conditions to which I had not then 
time to attend ; but said I would confirm by 
writing what I had promised, when in possession \ 
of the city; and the terms granted and signed 
, by Sir Home Popham and myself I have the ho- 
nour to annex.* 

* Terms granted to the inhabitants of Buenos Ayres and its depen* 
de?icies i by the commanders in chief of his Britannic Majesty* s 
forces by land and sea. 

Art. I. The troops belonging to his Catholic majesty, who 
were in the town at the time of the entry of the British troops, 
shall foe allowed to meet in the fortress of Buenos Ayres, march 
out of the fort with all the honours of war, and shall then lay 
down their arms and become prisoner? of war ; but such of- 
ficers as are natives of South America, or married with natives 
of the country, or regularly domiciliated, shall be at liberty to 
continue here so long as they behave themselves as becometh good 
subjects and citizens, taking the oath of allegiance to his Britannic 
majesty, or proceed to Great Britain with regular passports, hav- 
ing previously passed their parole of honour, not to serve until they 
are regularly exchanged. 

Art. II. All bona Tide private property, whether belonging to 
the civil or military servants of the late government ; to the ma- 
gistrates, burgers, and inhabitants of the town of Buenos Ayrcs, 
and its dependencies ; to the illustrious the bishop, the clergy 5 
to the churches, monasteries, colleges, foundations, and other 



bit the British. 353 
I also transmit a return of the killed, wounded, 



public institutions of that kind, shall remain free and unmo- 
lested. 

Art. III. All persons of every description belonging to this 
city and its dependencies, shall receive every protection from the 
British government, and they shall not be obliged to bear arms 
against his Catholic majesty ; nor shall any person whatever in the 
city or its dependencies take up arms, or otherwise act inimically 
to his majesty's troops or government. 

Art. IV. The cabildo, magistrates, burghers, and inhabitants, 
shall preserve all their rights and privileges which they have enjoyed 
hitherto, and shall continue in full and free exercise of their legal 
functions, both civil and criminal, under all the respect and pro- 
tection that can be afforded them by his majesty's £overnment s 
until his majesty's pleasure is known. 

Art. V. The public archives of the town shall receive every 
protection from his Britannic majesty's government, 

Art. VI. The different taxes and duties levied by the magistrates 
to remain for the present, and to be collected by them in the 
same manner, and applied to the same purposes as heretofore, 
for the general good of the city, until his majesty's pleasure is 
known. 

Art. VII. Every protection shall be given to the full and free 
exercise of the holy Catholic religion, and all respect shewn to the 
most illustrious the bishop and all the holy clergy. 

Art. VIII, The ecclesiastical court shall continue in the full and 
free exercise of all its functions, to be precisely on the same footing 
as it was heretofore. 

Art. IX. The coasting vessels in the river will be given up to 
their owners, according to a proclamation issued the 30th ult. 

Art. X. All public property of every description belonging to 
the enemies of his Britannic majesty shall be faithfully delivered 
up to the captors; and as the commanders in chief bind them- 
selves to see the fulfilment of all the preceding articles for the be- 
nefit of South America, so do the cabildo and magistrates bind 

2 A 



$5% Capture of Bitenos At/f*es 

and missing on the 26th and 27th of June,* as 
well as the return of the ordnance taken,*]* 

themselves to see that this last article is faithfully and honourably 
complied with. 

Given under our hands and seals, in the fortress of Buenos 
Ayres, this 2d day of July, 1806. 

(Signed) W. C, BERESFORD, maj. gen. 

(Signed) HOME POPHAM, commodore, 

commanding in chief* 
(Signed) JOSEPH IGN. DE LA QUIN- 
TANA, governor, and brigadier 
of dragoons. 

* tleturn of the killed, wounded, and missing of the troops under 
the command of major-general Bere ford, on the 26th and 27 t h 
June, 1806. 

St. Helena artillery.-— -1 rank and file wounded. 
Srisi reg. — 1 officer, 1 serjeant, 5 rank and file wounded. 
St. Helena infantry. — 1 rank and file wounded; 1 officer miss- 
ing, 

Boyal marines. — 3 rank and file wounded. 
Corps of seamen. — 1 rank and file killed. 

Names of officers wounded and missing* 
Captain Le Blanc, of the 7 1st regiment, shot in the leg ; since 

amputated above the knee. 
Assistant-surgeon Halliday, of the medical staff attached to St, 
Helena regiment, missing. 

Castle of Buenos Ayres, 5th July, 1806. 
f Return of ordnance, ammunition, and arms, captured at Buenos 

Ayres*. and its dependencies, viz. 
Iron ordnance. — 7 eighteen-pouuders, 1 twelve-pounder, H 
nine-pounders, 1 5 six-pounders, 6 four-pounders, 8 three- 
pounders. 

Brass ordnance.—-! thirty-two pounder, 2 twelve-pounders, 2 



hij the British. 555 

I caftnot conclude without assuring you of 
the unwearied zeal and assiduity of commodore: 
Sir Home Popham, in whatever could contribute 
to the success of this expedition, and of the 
cordial co-operation and great assistance which I 
have received from him. 

I have the honour to t^e, &c* 
(Signed) W. C* BERESFORD, maj. gen. 

Fort of Buenos Ayres, llth Jufyi 1806. 
I trust the conduct adopted towards the people 
here has had its full effect, in impressing upon 

nine-pounders, 2 six-pounders, 6 four-pounders, 3 three- 
pounders, 16 two-pounders, 4 one-pounders, 1 nine and 
half-inch mortar, 3 five and half-inch mortars, 1 six-inch ho* 
witzer. 

550 whole barrels of powder* 

2064 muskets, with bayonets* 

61 6 carbines. 

419 pistols. 

31 musketoons* 

1208 swords. 

(Signed) j. F* OGILVlE, cnpt. commanding 
royal and St. Helena artillery. 
Since the above return was sent to major-general Sir David 
Baird, the following guns, left by the viceroy in his flight, have 
been taken, and arms, &c. received. 

Brass ordnance. — 3 four-pounders, $ two-pounders, and 1 six* 

inch howitzer. 
139 muskets with bayonets. 

71 muskets without bayonets. 

85 pouches. 

29 swords. J„ F. O. 

2 A 2 



odS Capture oj' Buenos Ayr e$ 

tlieir minds the honour, generosity, and huma- 
nity of the British character. His "Majesty's mi- 
nisters will see^.by the detail of our proceedings, 
that, after the army had passed the Rio Chuelo, 
the city of Buenos Ay res remained at our mercy, 
and that, in fact, the only conditions on which 1 
entered were such as* I pleased to offer, and which 
humanity and a regard to our national character 
would naturally induce me to give under any cir- 
cumstances. 

However, to quiet the minds of the inhabitants, 
we not only consented to put in writing my pr# 
mises, but acceded to many conditions not ex- 
pected by them ; and, contrary to direct stipula- 
tion, gave up to the proprietors all the coasting 
Vessels captured, with their cargoes,* and the 
value of which amounted to one million and a half 
of dollars, and which being clone, with the views 
already -exposed, will, I trust, meet His Majesty's 
approbation . f 

* About 153 vessels in number, from 150 tons, downwards. 
1* The proclamations issued by the British commanders on 
these subjects, were as follows : 

PROCLAMATION, 

By William Carr Beresford, major-general 9 commanding in chief His 
Britannic Majesty s forces, employed on the East coast of South 
America, and lieutenant- governor of Buenos At/res and all its de- 
pendencies* 

The town of Buenos Ayres and its dependencies being Row 
subject to His Britannic Majesty, by the energy of His Majesty's 
arms, the major-general, with a view of establishing a perfect con- 
fidence in the liberality and justice of His Majesty's government* 
and quieting the minds of all the inhabitants who are now in the 



by the British. 357 

I have the honour to inform His Majesty's mi- 
nisters, that 1 had detached Captain Arbuthnot, of 

city, or who, from the apprehension of the general casualties of 
war, may have quitted it, thinks it necessary to proclaim, without 
a moment's loss of time, That it is His Majesty's most gracious 
intention, that the people of Buenos Ayres, and such other pro- 
vinces in the Rio de la Plata, as may eventually come under his 
protection, shall enjoy the full and free exercise of their religion, 
and that every respect shall be shewn to its holy ministers. 

That the courts of justice shall continue the exercise of their 
functions in all cases of civil or criminal procedure, with such 
references to the major-general as were had to the viceroy on for- 
mer occasions ; and the major-general pledges himself, that as far 
as depends on him, every thing shall be done to bring those pro- 
cesses to an immediate and just issue. 

All private property, of every description, shall receive the most 
ample protection ; and, whatever may be required by the troops, 
either of provisions or other articles, shall be immediately paid for 
at such prices as may be fixed on by the cabildo. 

The major-general, therefore, calls upon the most illustrious 
bishop, his coadjutors, and all ecclesiastical orders, foundations, 
colleges, heads of corporate bodies^ mayor, aldermen, and bur- 
gesses, to explain to the inhabitants, in general, that they are ever 
to be protected in their religion and property ; and, until the plea- 
sure of His Britannic Majesty is known, they are to be governed 
by their own municipal laws. 

The major-general thinks it necessary to acquaint the general 
and commercial interest of the country, that it is His Majesty's 
most gracious intention, that a free trade shall be opentd and oer- 
mitted to South America, similar to that enjoyed by all others of 
His Majesty's colonies, particularly the island of Trinadada, whose 
inhabitants have felt peculiar benefits from being under the govern- 
ment of a sovereign, powerful enough to protect them from any 
insult, and generous enough to give them such commercial a'elvan-. 
tages, as they could not enjoy under the administration of anj 
other country, 

2 A 3 



353 Capture of Buenos Aijres 

the 20th Light Dragoons, on the 3d inst. with a 
party consisting of seven dragoons and twenty in- 

With the promise of such rigid protection to the established re- 
ligion of the country and the exercise of its civil laws, the major- 
general trusts, that all good citizens will unite with him in their 
exertions to keep the town quiet and peaceable, as they may now 
enjoy a free trade, and all the advantages of a commercial inter- 
course with Great Britain, where no oppression exists, and which 
he understands has been the only thing wanting by the rich pro- 
vinces of Buencs Ayres, and the inhabitants of South America, 
in general, to make it the most prosperous country in the world. 

'The majoivgeneral has now only to call upon the magistrates to 
send to the different farmers in the country, and induce them to 
bring into the markets provisions and vegetables of every descrip- 
tion, for w T hich they shall be immediately paid, and any complaints 
which may be made shall be redressed without delay. 

•it having been represented to the major-general, that some of 
the existing duties bear too hard on the enterprize of commerce, 
he has determined to take the earliest opportunity of informing 
himself, on that subject, from the best commercial authorities, and 
he will then make such reductions in the overbearing duties as may 
seem most conducive to the interest of the country, until the plea^ 
sure of his Britannic Majesty is known. 

(Signed) W. C. BKRESFORD, 

Maj.-Gen. and Lieut. -Gov, 

PROCLAMATION, 

By the commanders in chief of His Britannic Majesty's forces, by 
land and sea. 

Although the laws of war give all ships, barges, vessels, boats, 
and craft, of every description, in harbours, rivers, and creeks, to 
the captors, yet the commanders in chief of His Britannic Ma* 
jesty's forces by Jand and sea, feeling that such captures will 
distress the owners of small vessels, as they may be the only 
means by which they gain their livelihood ; and, anxiously wishing 
to give every encouragement to real industry, and every accom-r 



hij the British. ' 3 59 

fantry, (the whole mounted), to a place called 
Luxam, fifty miles distant. My principal object 
was to have the country reconnoitred, and to see 
what were the dispositions of the inhabitants ; 
but, with the avowed object of escorting back 
some of the treasure which had been taken from 
here, and to prevent its following the viceroy, 
which I had reason to suspect was intended, 
though it was said to be all private property; and, 
in which case, we had declared, if brought back, 
it should be given to its owners, if of this city. 
Captain Arbuthnot returned last night; and, I 
am glad to say, with information of a pleasing na- 
ture ; for, your lordship will see, by this detach- 
ment passing so easily through the country, that 

modation to the inhabitants of South America, do, by this procla- 
mation, give up all such small vessels as shall appear to be really 
vessels carrying on the coasting trade of the river. And they, at 
the same time, call upon all the owners of those vessels, and the in- 
habitants in general, to see that no imposition is practised on the 
captors, by the vessels claiming this act of grace, that are not in- 
tituled to it. The captors trust they merit this attention from their 
liberal conduct to the inhabitants of South America, and their de- 
sire to do every thing in their power to promote the happiness of 
the country. 

The description of vessels included in this proclamation, are to 
be named by captain Lajunor and captain Thompson, captain of 
the port. 

Given under our hands, in the castle of Buenos Ayres, the 
SOlh day of June, I 80b. 

(Signed) W, C. BERESFORD, 
HOME POPHAM. 

2 A 4 



I 



360 Capture of Buenos Ay res 

whatever their present inclinations may be, there 
is no very great danger from any hostile inten- 
tions against us: and captain Arbuthnot reports 
rather favourably of the general dispositions of the 
people, The country to Luxani, as I have already 
represented, in general the whole of it is a perfect 
flat, and the view of the horizon obstructed by 
nothing but the immense herds of horses and 
cattle, but principally horned cattle. 

Luxam is situated on a river of the same name, 
and where there is a bridge over it, and the route 

"* O . * , - " v.- 

leading to all the interior provinces, and I rather 
think it will be adviseable, on many accounts, 
that I possess myself of it, which I can do by a 
small detachment. Much of the treasure was 
caught actually going to Cordova, and the rest, 
but for the opportune arrival of the party, would 
have been pillaged. 

The waggons conveying this treasure may be 
expected here to-morrow. Those with the royal 
treasure, and that of the Philippine company, ar- 
rived some time since, and is already embarked. 

Fart of Bue?ios Ayres, July 16th, 1S06, 
I am now able to transmit nearly an account of 
the money which has been received as prize un- 
der the terms of my agreement with the acting 
governor of the place, previous to my entering the 
town. The statement shews the various depart- 
ments and public bodies whence the sums form* 



lij the British, 361 

m<y the total has been derived.* The sum of one 
million, eighty -six thousand, two hundred and 

* Account of Monies, &c. received in consequence of an agreement on 
the 2Sth of June> ISOo, and that brought from and near Luxam. . 

Buenos Ayres, July 1 6, 1806. 
E?nbarked on hoard His Majesty' s ship Narcissus. 

Dollar?. 

Royal treasure, brought in by Mr. Casamajor - 208,519 

Philippine Company, ditto ----- 100,000 

Post-office, ditto - - - - - - , 55,872 

Tobacco-administration, ditto - 94..323 

Custom-house, ditto - - - - - 57,000 

From the agent of the Philippine Company - 100,000 

114 skins, containing each 3000 dollars, brought back 

from Luxam by captain Arbuthnot's party 342,000 
2 boxes, ditto ------- 5,932 

Gold bar, ditto - , - , - 562 

71 ingots of silver, ditto ^ - v - - 113,000 



1,086,208 



Remains in the treasury, ~ 

Dollars. 

From the agent of the Philippine Company - - 30,000 
Consulada, brought back from Luxam, by captain Ar- 
buthnot's party - - - „ ^ - 61,790 
32| linen bags,* ditto - - - _ 32,509 
33 boxes, f brought back from Luxam, by captain Ar- 
buthnot's party - - - - _ 76,000 
Box found in the house of a priest '•- . - 4,825 



205,115 



Embarked on board the Narcissus * 1,086,208 
Remains ia thq treasury - -. - - 205,115 



Total 1,2m 1,3 23 



* Not counted, but supposed 1000 dollars each, 
t Not counted, but supposed 2000 dollars each. 



S 6 Q Capture of Buenos Aijres. 

eight dollars is going home in His Majesty's ship 
Narcissus ; and Sir Home Popham and myself 
have thought it right to reserve here, for the ex- 
igencies of the army and navy, a considerable 
sum ; and for the purpose of keeping down the 
exchange on bills drawn by the respective ser- 
vices, and which would otherwise bring the dollar 
to an enormous price. 

It is estimated that the merchandize in the 
king's stores, principally Jesuits' bark and quick- 
silver, and which is in the Philippine company's 
stores, with the little that is retained of floating 
property, will amount, if it can be disposed of, to 
between two and three millions of dollars. Of 
the bullion delivered in, some is claimed as private 
property, arid which shall be delivered in the same 
spirit of liberality, with which, we trust, it will be 
considered we have acted here. The sixty- one 
thousand seven hundred and ninety dollars were 
yesterday delivered to the Consulada, on their as- 
surance only that it belonged to the people of 
this town, and they have a claim upon forty or 
fifty thousand dollars more, which will be settled 
this day. 



563 



CHAP, X. 

Colonial government — -Viceroys — Royal Audiences- 
Council of the Indies — Ecclesiastical establish* 
merits — Revenues — Expenditure — Inhabitants^ 
manners, and customs — Their different classes — 
Chapetones — Creoles — M u la f toes and mestices — 
Negroes — Indians — U nsubdued Indians — Their 
principal tribes, customs, fyc. — Patagonians, 

J- J A YIN G thus traced the progress of the disco- 
very, conquest, and internal history, of these 
regions ; the maxims which regulate the interior 
structure and policy of the Spanish settlements, 
their colonial government, and the diversity of in- 
habitants under it, are the objects that next attract 
attention. 

The despotic nature of the royal authority in 
Spain, whose monarchy had extended their prero- 
gatives far beyond the limits which once circum- 
scribed the regal power in every kingdom of Eu- 
rope, diffused itself over their transatlantic posses^ 
sions in the earliest stages of their settlement. 
The fundamental maxim of Spanish jurisprudence 
with respect to America, is to consider their ac- 
quisitions there as vested ill the crown, By the 



3b4 Viceroys, 

bull of Alexander VI. on which, as her great char- 
ter, Spain founded her right, all the regions that 
Lad been, or should be, discovered, were bestowed 
as a free gift upon Ferdinand and Isabella. They 
and their successors were uniformly held to be 
the universal proprietors of the vast territories 
which the arms of their subjects had conquered 
in the new world ; and, though they had contri- 
buted little to the discovery, and nothing to the 
conquest, they instantly assumed the exercise of 
sovereign authority, and the function of legislators. 
From them all grants of land emanated, and to 
them they finally reverted. The leaders who con- 
ducted the various expeditions, the governors who 
presided over the different colonies, the officers of 
justice, and the ministers of religion, were all ap- 
pointed by them, and removable at their pleasure. 
The cession b}^ the papal see of all ecclesiastical! 
dominion in the Spanish colonies to their mo- 
il arc lis, has been noticed, and contributed largely 
to the consolidation of their authority ; and the 
pomp and splendour of a monarchical government 
was transferred to their American possessions b]p 
the establishment of vice-regal dignities. 

The viceroys not only represent the person of 
their sovereign, but possess his regal prerogatives* 
within th<b precincts of their own governments, in 
their utmost extent. Like him they exercise su- 
preme authority in every department of govern- 
ment, civil, military, and criminal. The external 
pomp of their government is suited to its. real dig- 



Their pomp mid revenues. 365 

nity and power ; their courts nre formed upon the 
model of that of Madrid, a sumptuous establish- 
ment, officers of state and a regular household, 
numerous attendants, and guards both of horse and 
foot, displaying the insignia of civil power, and 
the ensigns of military command, with a degree of 
magnificence, scarcely retaining the semblance of 
delegated authority?. This parade of government, 
amongst a people fond of ostentation, greatly aug- 
ments the burthen on the revenues of the country; 
for all the expense incurred by thus maintaining 
the state and dignity of royalty, is defrayed by the 
crown. The salaries of the viceroys are extremely 
moderate, compared with their exalted station: 
that of the viceroy of Buenos Ayres is forty thou- 
sand ducats. These salaries, however, constitute 
but a small proportion of their incomes. The ex- 
ercise of an absolute authority extending to every 
department of government, and the power of dis- 
posing of many lucrative offices, afford them nu- 
merous opportunities of accumulating wealth. 
To these, large sums are sometimes added by ex- 
actions, which, in countries so far removed from 
the seat of government, it is not easy to discover, 
and not possible to restrain. By monopolizing 
some brandies of commerce, by a lucrative con- 
cern in others, by conniving at the frauds of mer- 
chants, a viceroy may raise such an annual re- 
venue as no subject of any European monarch en- 
joys. According to a Spanish saying, the lep-al 
revenues of a viceroy are known, his real profits 
depend upon his opportunities and his conscience. 



S66 Royal audiences. 

Sensible of this, the kings of Spain grant a com- 
mission to their viceroys only for a few years; 
but this circumstance often renders them more ra- 
pacious, and adds to the ingenuity and ardour 
with which they labour to improve every moment 
of a power, which they know is fast hastening to 
a period ; but which, short as its duration is, 
usually affords sufficient time for repairing a shat> 
tered fortune, or for creating a new and princely 
one. 

The viceroys are aided in their administration 
by officers and tribunals, similar to those in Spain* 
The conduct of civil affairs is committed to ma- 
gistrates of various orders and denominations ; 
some appointed by the king, others by the vice- 
roy, but all subject to the command of the lat- 
ter, and amenable to his jurisdiction. The ad- 
ministration of justice is vested in tribunals, 
known by the name of Royal Audiences, of 
which there are two in the viceroyalty of Buenos 
Ayres ; one in the capital, the other at La 
Plata or Chuquisaca. Both civil and criminal 
causes come under their cognizance, and pecu- 
liar judges are set apart for each. In particular 
cases, in which any question of civil right is 
involved, the royal audience has the power of 
remonstrating against the political regulations of 
the viceroy; but in the event of a direct colli- 
sion between their opinion and the will of the 
viceroy, what he determines must be carried 
into execution, and nothing remains for them 
but to lay the matter before the king and the 



Council of the Indies. '367 1 

council of the Indies. Yet to be entitled to re- 
monstrate and inform against a person who repre- 
sents the sovereign-, and is clothed in his authority ; 
and before whom all others must be silent, is a 
privilege which adds dignity to the courts of 
audience, and, together with the still greater and 
more substantial prerogative they enjoy o£ exer- 
cising all the functions of viceregal authority! 
upon the death of a viceroy, and until another is 
appointed by the king, give an importance to the 
judges of the royal audience, they would not, sim- 
ply as magistrates, attain. In matters which come 
before the royal audiences, in the course, of their 
ordinary jurisdiction as courts of justice, their 
sentences are final in every litigation concerning 
property of less value than ten thousand piastres 5 
but when the subject in dispute exceeds that sum., 
their decisions may be carried by appeal before 
the royal council of the Indies. 

In this council, one of the most considerable of 
the monarchy for dignity and, power, is vested the 
supreme government of all the Spanish dominions 
in America. It consists of a president, four secre- 
taries, and twenty-two counsellors, besides offi- 
cers. The members of the council are generally 
chosen from the vicero) 7 s, and other magistrates, 
who have served in the American provinces. It 
was first established by Ferdinand, in the year 
151 1 ? and brought into a more perfect form by 
Charles V., in the year 1554. All laws. and or- 
dinances relative to the government and police 



\ 



' 36S Council of the Indies. . • .*. 

of the colonies originate there, and must be ap« 
proved of by two-thirds of the members before 
they are issued in the name of the king. All the 
offices, to which the nomination is reserved to 
the crown, are conferred in' this council. To it 
every person employed in America, from the vice- 
roy downwards, is accountable. It reviews their 
conduct, rewards their services, and inflicts the 
punishments due to their malversations. What- 
ever intelligence is received from America* either 
public or secret, is laid before it, and every plan 
for the improvement of the administration, the 
police, or the commerce of the colonies,' 1 is- sub- 
mitted to its consideration. The power and 
splendour with which the catholic monarchs have 
encircled this council, give it dignity at home, and 
render it formidable in America. The Spaniards 
have perhaps too highly extolled the sagacity of 
its measures, the justice of its decisions, and the 
integrity of its members. The manifold abuses 
practised of the regulations in favour of the In- 
dians, and the manifest languishment in which 
many of the Spanish settlements were plunged, 
may impeach the one; the delay and tortuous pro- 
ceedings in the suits brought before it, of which 
some are recorded of eight and ten years duration, 
do not tell in favour of the other; and the instance 
adduced below,* is a proof that integrity has not 



* The Marquis de Serralvo, by a monopoly of salt, and by 
embarking deeply in the Manilla trade, as well as in that to Spain, 



Casa de la Contratacion. 369 

always predominated in their appointments. It 
has, however, with a considerable degree of pro- 
priety 4 been remarked, that whatever portion of 
public order and virtue still remains in Spanish 
America, where so many circumstances conspire 
to relax the former, and to corrupt the latter, 
may, in a great measure, be ascribed to the wise 
regulations and vigilant inspection of this respect- 
able tribunal ; the meetings of which, are always 
held wherever the king resides, as he is supposed 
to be always present at their deliberations. 

Airother tribunal, called the Casa de la Con- 
tratacion, or the board of trade, was established 
at Seville, and acts likewise as a court of judica- 
ture. In the former capacity it directs whatever 
relates to the intercourse of Spain with America, 
and in the latter, it judges with respect to every 
question, civil, commercial, and criminal, arising 
in consequence of the transactions with the colo- 
nies ; and in both these departments its decisions 
are exempted from the review of any court, but 
that of the council of the Indies. 

The military power of the viceroys is subdivided 
under various officers ; and separate districts are 
committed to the charge of captains-general, go- 
vernors-general, lieutenants-general, and com- 
manders, who are, in their military capacity, 

gained annually a million of ducats. In one year he remitted a 
million of ducats to Spain, in order to purchase a prolongation of 
bis government. He was successful in his attempt, and continued 
in office from 1624 to 1635, twice the usual time. 



S?0 Ecclesiastical 

immediately under the authority of the vicero) r 3. 
The military department is much neglected in all 
the Spanish possessions; badly clothed and armed, 
and worse disciplined, the militia, though per- 
haps sufficient to keep the Indians in sub- 
jection, are not equal to a defence against an . 
European force ; and the regulars, widely scattered, 
licentious, and relaxed, are scarcely better, except- 
ing where they are kept for the parade of body- 
guards to the viceroys. 

The support of the enormous and expensive 
fabric of their ecclesiastical establishment has 
been a burthen on the Spanish colonies, which 
has greatly retarded the progress of population 
and industry. Though the policy of Ferdinand, 
more enlightened in this respect than could be ex- 
pected in his age and country, obtained from the 
sovereign pontiff, a grant of the tythes in all the 
regions of America, the benefits of this acqui- 
sition were lost to the crown and the state, under 
his successors. The payment of tythes in the 
colonies on every article of primary necessity 
was early enjoined and regulated by law, and prin- 
cipally devoted to the foundation and support of 
an hierarchy, adequate to the spiritual govern- 
ment of a mighty empire. - * A splendid train of 

* Charles V. appointed the tjthes to be applied in the following 
tnanner : one fourth is allotted to the bishop of the diocese; another 
fourth to the dean and chapter, and other officers of the cathedral. 
The remaining half is divided into nine equal parts. Two of these, 



establishment \ 



37 1 



archbishops, bishops, deans, and other dignitaries, 
were endowed with princely incomes. Cathedrals 
and churches were erected in disproportionate 
numbers, and adorned with profuse magnificence. 

To the weight of legal impost, the bigotry of 
the American Spaniards has made many voluntary 
additions. From their fond delight in the ex- 
ternal pomp and parade of religion, and from their 
reverence for ecclesiastics of every description, 
they have bestowed lavish donations on churches 
and monasteries, and have unprofitably buried in 
the recesses of superstition, a large proportion of 
that wealth which might have nourished and given 
vigour to productive labour in growing colonies. 
The early institution of monasteries in the Spanish 
settlements, and the inconsiderate zeal with which 
they were multiplied, have been equally unpro- 
pitious. The Spaniards had hardly taken posses- 
sion of America, than, with a most preposterous 
policy, they erected convents without number, 
where persons of both sexes were shut up, under 
a vow to defeat the purposes of nature, and to 
counteract the first of her Jaws. Influenced by a 
misguided piety, which ascribes transcendant 
merit to a state of celibacy, or allured by the pro- 
spect of that listless ease, which, in sultry climates, 
is deemed supreme felicity, numbers crowded into 

under the denomination of los dos novenos reales, are paid to the 
crown ; and the other seven parts are applied to the maintenance 
of the parochial clergy, the erection and support of churches, 
and other pious uses. 

2 fi 2 



572 



JEcc lesiastical est all ish m ent* 



those mansions of sloth and superstition, and were 
lost to society. In the remotest and most desert 
provinces convents arose* and celibacy became 
a ruling passion, where depopulation was making 
rapid strides. Some regulations were made in 
order to check this spirit, so inimical to the in- 
crease and prosperity of the colonies ; but the 
American Spaniards* more thoroughly under the 
influence of superstition than even their country- 
men in Europe, and directed by ecclesiastics more 
bigotted and illiterate, conceived so high an opinion 
of monastic sanctity, that no regulations could re- 
strain their zeal ; and by the excess of their ill- 
judged bounty, religious houses have multiplied 
to a degree no less amazing, than pernicious to 
society. 

The inferior clergy are divided into three classes, 
under the denominations of Curas, Doctrineros, 
and Missioneros. The first are parish-priests in 
those parts of the country where the Spaniards 
have settled. The second have the charge of 
such districts as are inhabited by Indians subjected 
to the Spanish government, and living under its 
protection. The third are employed in instruct- 
ing and converting those fiercer tribes, who dis- 
dain to submit to the Spanish yoke, and live in 
remote, or scarcely accessible regions, to which 
the Spanish arms have not penetrated. The moral 
character of the ecclesiastics in this country has 
been virulently arraigned ; an opportunity will 
presently occur to discuss it. 



Revenues, 



373 



These remarks, though referring to the civil 
and ecclesiastical government of the whole of 
Spanish America, apply also particularly to the 
viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres : of the minor muni- 
cipal regulations, it is only necessary to say, that 
they are constituted similarly to the other Spa- 
nish establishments, of cabildos, corregidores, re- 
gidores, alcaldes, and alguazils ; dispensing justice, 
preserving order, or administering chastisement, 
according to their respective offices. 

The revenues which the Spanish monarchs derive 
from their American dominions, arise from taxes 
of various kinds, which may be divided into four 
capital blanches. The first contains what is paid 
to the king, as sovereign or superior lord ; and to 
this belongs the duty on the gold and silver ex- 
tracted from the mines, and the tribute exacted 
from the Indians. The second branch compre- 
hends the numerous duties on commerce, which 
accompany and oppress it in every stage of its pro- 
gress, from the greatest transactions of the whole- 
sale merchant, to the petty traffic of the retail 
vender. The third consists of what accrues to 
the king, as head of the church, in consequence 
of which, he receives the first-fruits, annates, 
spoils, and other spiritual revenues, levied by the 
apostolic chamber in Europe ; and is also entitled 
to the profits arising from the sale of the bull 
of Cruzado.* The fourth source of revenue, is 

* This bull, which is published every two years, contains ara 
absolution from past offences, and, amongst other immttD&tts* 

2 B 3 



374 Revenues, 

the monopoly of various branches of trade, re- 
served to the crown, , 

The amount of «these revenues from the pro- 
vince of Buenos Ayres, has hitherto never been 
exactly calculated or ascertained ; but the follow- 
ing statement, collected from the most authentic 
sources, will, it is presumed, be found as accu^ 
rate an estimate as could be framed, under the 
disadvantages of the secresy and jealousy of the 
Spanish government on these subjects : 

First Branch, 
Duties on the gold and silver coined at Piastres 
Potosi - - - - ^ 6o0,000 
Profit on the coinage - 120,000 
Tribute of the Indians - - - 550,000 

1,320,000 

permission to eat several kinds of prohibited food during lent, 
and on meagre days. The monks employed in dispersing these 
bulls, extol their virtues with all the fervour of interested elo* 
quence; the people, ignorant and credulous, listen with implicit 
assent ; and every person of European, Creolian, or mixed race, 
purchases a bull, which is deemed essential for his salvation, at the 
rate set upon it by government. 

The price paid for the bull varies according to the rank of the 
purchasers, and has been different at different periods. That 
exacted for the bulls issued in a late Predlcacion for Peru, including 
Paraguay, will appear from the ensuing table. 

Bulls Pesos Reals 

3 issued at 16 pesos 4^ reals each - 49 §i 

14,202 - - 3 do. 3 do. do. - 47,931 6 

78,822 - - 1 do. 5£ do. do. - 133,012 1 

410,325 - 4 do. do. - 205,162 4 

668,601 . 3 do. do. - 250,725 3 

U171 ,953 bulls pesos 636,881 3| 



Revenues, 



Second Branch. 

Duties of Alcavela, or excise 
on the sale of goods, which 
is four per cent. - - 385,000 

Minor duties of excise on 

various articles - - 200,000 

Stamp-duty - - 32,000 

Duties of Aduana or customs* 
on importation and ex- 
portation, which amount 
to thirty-four and a half 
per cent.f 750,000 

Third Branch. 

Produce of the bull of Cru- 
zado, published every two 
years, making an annual 
revenue of 160,000 

First-fruits and ecclesiastical , 

annates - - - 30,000 

Royal ninths of the ty thes - 72,000 



1,367*000 



262,000 



* Including the Almajorifasgo, or custom-duty, and the Averia 9 
or convoy-duty, which last is an impost of two percent., first laid 
on when Sir Francis Drake filled the new world with terror, by bis 
expedition to the South Sea : this estimate includes also the Catisw 
lado, or town's dues. 

f Upon the capture of Buenos Ayres, these exorbitant dwties 
were immediately and judiciously reduced by the British command- 
ers to ten per cent, ad valorem, and two and a half per cent, for the 
consuiado, or town-dues; and this regulation has been sanctioned 
and established by his Majesty's order in council^ dated the tjih 
September 3 

B 4r 



376 Revenues. 

Fourth Branch. 

Profits on the exclusive sale 
of quicksilver, from the mo- 
nopoly of tobacco and of 
gunpowder, and the royal 
commerce in paper - - 350,000 

On the assiento of negroes - 200,000 

On the trade in the herb of 
Paraguay, formerly mono- 
polized by the Jesuits - 500,000 

Other revenues formerly be- 
longing to that order - 400,000 

- ■ 1,450,000 

Total, piastres 4,399,000 

or, sterling £ 989,775 

This sum is far from being the whole of what 
accrued to the crown of Spain from the possessions 
constituting the viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres ; 
for it does not include the duties imposed on the 
commodites of Europe, on their exportation from 
Spain ; and those levied on the colonial produce, 
on its arrival in the metropolitan ports, which 
together, with several smaller branches of finance, 
bring large sums into the treasury, but which it 
is not necessary to ascertain in the present in- 
quiry. 

But, if the revenue which Spain exacts from her 
American settlements be great, the expence of ad- 
ministration in them is proportionably still greater ; 



Classes of Inhabitants. 377 

and it is ascertained, that upwards of one half of 
the royal income remains in the colonies, to de- 
fray the charges of her splendid and complex esta- 
blishments. Every department of domestic po- 
lice and finances is encumbered with a variety 
of tribunals and of officers, multiplied with 
anxious attention, from the jeaious spirit with 
which Spain watches over her American settle- 
ments, and from her endeavours to guard against 
fraud in provinces so remote from inspection. 
From the sums necessary for the support of the 
splendour of viceroyalty, and the numerous re- 
tinue of officers and attendants, little is spared 
for the purposes of amelioration or of defence ; and 
a recent experiment has proved, that the conquest 
of the most valuable settlements, is an achieve- 
ment of facility almost equal to the importance 
of the acquisition. 

The inhabitants of these extensive regions are 
divided into classes, which, notwithstanding the 
inextricable mixture of blood which is met with 
amongst them,are separated by wide intervals and 
protrusive discrimination. There are five main 
distinctions, which are: 1. The Spaniards who 
arrive from Europe, and are distinguished by the 
appellation of cluipetones^ who again are either 
old christians, or men of more equivocal descent. 
2. The Creoles, or descendants from European pa- 
rents of a breed unmixed with any of the inferior 
classes. 3. The mulattoes and mestices, with their 
various ramifications of colour, which have mostly 



378 Chape tones. 

distinctive appellations amongst the Spaniards, 
The mulatto is the issue of a white and a ne- 
gro ; the mestice or ?nestizo i of a white and an 
Indian, but there are both mulattos and mesti- 
zos de chapetojieSy and mulattos and mestizos de 
criolles, enjoying different degrees of respect, 
according to their reputed origin ; the quadron 
de nigros is the issue of a white and a mulatto; 
the quadron de indios, that of a white and a mes- 
tizo ; the issue of a white and a quadron, 
though distinctively called a terceron, varies in 
colour so little from the Creoles, that generally, 
disguising the stain in their descent, they mix 
and rank with the latter ; the sambo de mestizo 
and the sambo de mulatto are respectively the 
children of a negro and a mulatto, and a ne- 
gro and a mestizo ; and the sambo de indios is 
the issue of a negro and Indian. These are 
the principal denominations, though there is 
an endless multiplicity of other varieties, the 
knowledge of which is almost a science of it- 
self. 4. The negroes imported from Africa, or 
born of negro-parents in the country. And 5. 
The Indians, the lowest and most despised class 
of the community. 

The chapetones, or European Spanish inhabit- 
ants, are the first in rank and power. From 
the jealous attention of the Spanish court to 
secure the dependence of the colonies, all de- 
partments of consequence are filled by persons 
sent from Europe ; and, in order to prevent any of 



Chapetones. 379 

dubious fidelity from being employed, each must 
bring proof of a clear descent from a family 
of old Christians^ untainted with any mixture 
of Jewish or Mahometan blood, and never dis- 
graced by any censure of the inquisition. In 
such pure hands, power is deemed to be safely 
lodged, and almost every public function, from 
the viceroy downwards, is committed to them 
alone. By this conspicuous predilection, the 
chapetones are led to look down with disdain 
on every other order of men. Most of these 
are only temporary residents in the colonies, 
and return to Europe after a longer or shorter 
abode, and with a greater or less acquisition 
of wealth. But as being born in Old Spain, is 
of itself a sufficient distinction, all others who 
have passed into the colonies, either by the 
permission of government, or clandestinely, are 
numbered amongst the chapetones ; and, though 
their genealogy may be reputed less pure, and 
they are of inferior consideration to the old 
Christians, they still look down upon the Cre- 
oles as far beneath them. 

This distinction is not transmitted to their 
children, and the immediate progeny of the 
most noble amongst the chapetones descend 
into the rank of Creoles, a denomination be- 
stowed upon all who are born of white parents 
in America. Though some of the creolian race 
are the posterity of the conquerors of the new" 
world ; though others can trace up their pedi- 



380 



Creoles, 



grees to the noblest families of Spain ; though 
many of them have purchased or inherited di- 
stinguished titles of nobility; and, though num- 
bers are possessed of ample fortunes; yet, the 
invidious preference given by government to 
their haughty rivals, and their despair of ever 
attaining that ' distinction in society, to which 
mankind naturally aspire, joined, in many parts, 
to the enervating influence of a sultry climate, 
and the abundance and luxury in which they 
live, have so entirely broken the vigour of their 
minds, that most of them waste their lives in 
low debauchery or luxurious ease, in the prac- 
tice of superstitious ceremonies, or in the pur- 
suit of romantic intrigues. The only door of 
emulation that is open, is in old Spain, where 
civil, military, and ecclesiastical dignities, are 
accessible to them ; but very few have ever 
trodden this distant path to honour, and fewer 
yet have applied themselves to the pursuits of 
literature or the avocations of commerce. Lan- 
guid and unenterprising, the operation of an 
active or extended trade would be to them so 
cumbersome and oppressive, that they, almost 
in every part of America, decline engaging in 
it. The interior traffic of the colonies, as well 
as that with Spain, is carried on chiefly by 
the chapetones, who, in recompence of their 
industry, amass immense wealth, whilst the 
Creoles sunk in sloth, remain satisfied with the 
revenues of their paternal estates. Many, how- 



Creoles. 



381 



ever, devote their lives to the church ; and* 
although the crozier is never bestowed upon 
any but Europeans, the inferior ecclesiastical 
dignities, and the functions of both the regular 
and secular clergy, are filled indiscriminately by 
the chapetones and the Creoles. The Creoles of 
the third and fourth generation are a shade 
browner than the chapetones, well made, and 
though taciturn, occasionally lively and agree- 
able. The creolian ladies are reckoned much 
handsomer than the Spanish ; the jetty black 
of their hair and eyes, contrasting admirably 
with the brilliant white of their countenance, 
which, though divested of the roses of Euro- 
pean beauty, has nothing of the ashy paleness of 
disease. The men possess the germs of eminent 
good qualities, but, debased by their education, 
depressed in their spirits, and domineered by- 
superstition, they are licentious, indolent, and 
fanatical. Indulging in the wildest excesses 
with their mulatto and black females, tyran- 
nised by them, and in their turn tyrannising 
over their Indian servitors and negro-slaves. 
Reserved with, and prepossessed against, all Eu- 
ropeans, but especially hostile and mistrustful 
towards the Spaniards ; returning the contempt 
with which they are treated by the chapetones 
with equal disdain, and demonstrating their in- 
veterate animosity by the opprobrious appella- 
tion of catialios, or brutes, which they bestow 
upon their rivals, It is asserted, that the court 



3S2 Clergy. 

of Spain, from a refinement of distrustful po- 
licy, cherishes these seeds of discord, and fo* 
ments this mutual antipathy, which not only 
prevents the two most powerful classes of its 
American subjects from combining against the 
parent-state, but prompts each to observe the 
motions, and counteract the schemes of the 
other. 

From these two classes, the clergy in the colo- 
nies are chiefly selected, though there are several 
instances of men of colour, and even Indians, 
being admitted to the priesthood. Where their 
influence is so great, the character of this 
powerful body is an object that deserves par- 
ticular attention. A considerable part of the 
secular clergy are natives of Spain, but the ec- 
clesiastical adventurers by whom the American 
church is recruited, are commonly such as have 
little prospect of success in their own country. 
Accordingly, the secular priests in the new 
world, are still less distinguished than their 
brethren in Spain for literary accomplishments. 
But the greatest part of the ecclesiastics in the 
Spanish settlements are regulars. On the dis- 
covery of America, a new field opened for the 
pious zeal of the monastic orders, who, with 
becoming alacrity, immediately sent forth mis- 
sionaries to labour in it ; and the popes per- 
mitted the four mendicant orders to accept of 
parochial charges in America, to perform all 
spiritual functions, and to receive the tythes, 



Clergy. 383 

without depending on the jurisdiction b£ the 
bishop of the dipcese. Whenever a call is made 
for a fresh supply of missionaries, men of the 
most ardent and aspiring minds, impatient under 
the restraints of a cloister, weary of its insipid 
uniformity, and fatigued with the irksome repe- 
tition of its frivolous ceremonies, offer their ser- 
vices with eagerness, and repair to the new world 
in quest of liberty and distinction. Nor do they 
pursue distinction without success. The highest 
ecclesiastical honours and the most lucrative pre- 
ferments are often in the hands of regulars; and 
it is chiefly to the monastic orders that the Spa- 
nish Americans are indebted for any portion of 
science which is cultivated amongst them. But 
the same disgust with the cloister, to which Ame- 
rica is indebted for some instructors of worth and 
abilities, filled it with others of a very different 
character. The giddy, the profligate, and the 
avaricious, to whom the poverty and rigid disci- 
pline of a convent are intolerable, consider a mis- 
sion to America as a release from mortification and 
bondage. There they soon obtain some parochial 
charge; and, far removed from the inspection of 
their monastic superiors, and exempt from the 
jurisdiction of their diocesan, they are not only 
destitute of the virtues becoming their profes- 
sion, but are regardless of that external decorum 
which preserves a semblance of worth when the 
reality is wanting. Unfortunately this character 
is not peculiar to the regulars, or to those whp 



384 Clergy, 

arrive from Europe ; but the provincial clergy of 
both classes are equally stigmatised by some of the 
most zealous catholics. Shall these men, says one, 
preach the christian virtues, who set examples of the 
most unchristian vices? Shall they preach forbear- 
ance and patience ? they who go armed with daggers 
for protection in their libertine pursuits ? Shall 
they preach poverty and contempt of riches ? of 
whom the most exemplary engage in trade, and 
have slaves of both sexes ? Shall they preach hu- 
mility ? whose pride and arrogance are intolerable, 
and many of whom go clothed in the richest attire 
concealed under their clerical garments? Shall 
they preach purity and chastity ? they whose 
lives are a tissue of debauchery and dissolute li- 
centiousness ? 

Various schemes were proposed for redressing 
enormities so manifest and offensive ; and it was 
contended that the regulars ought, in conformity 
to the canons of the church, to be confined within 
the walls of their cloisters, and not be permitted 
to encroach on the functions of the seculajr clergy. 
But the ancient practice was long tolerated, and 
the corruption of the monks spread through the 
whole of the ecclesiastical establishment. At 
last, as the veneration of the Spaniards for the 
monastic orders began to abate, Ferdinand VI. 
issued an edict, in 17£7 ? prohibiting regulars from 
taking charge of any parish, and declaring, that, 
on the decease of the present incumbents, none 
but secular priests should be presented to vacant 



Religious pomp, 38 £ 

benefices. The missions, however, are yet given 
to the monks of the various orders resident in 
Spanish America, since the expulsion of the Je- 
suits ; but the deportment of the ecclesiastics in 
general is said to have been much ameliorated in 
consequence of this regulation. 

In justice, however, to the Jesuits, it must be 
owned, that every observer has excepted from the 
general accusations of immorality, and irregula- 
rity, the fathers of the society of Jesus. Their 
stricter discipline, or their ulterior views, pre- 
vented them from debasing their profession, or 
scandalizing the laity,! like the other orders of mo- 
nastic institution ; and it is principally owing to 
them that any steady or permanent conversions 
took place amongst the Indians. 

A principal lure, by which not only the Indians 
are attracted within the pale of the church, but 
which cements the attachment of the Spanish in- 
habitants to their religion, is the splendour and 
pageantry of its rites. The Romish superstition 
appears with its utmost pomp in the New World. 
The magnificence and riches of the churches and con- 
vents have been before mentioned ; and on high fes- 
tivals, the display of gold and silver, of precious 
stones, of relics, and of rarities, is such as ex- 
ceeds the most studied exhibitions in the European 
Catholic states. The celebration of the festival 
of Corpus Christi, at the city of Buenos Ayres, 
is thus described by a late eye-witness : 

The morning was ushered in by the ringing of 
2 C 



3S6 Celehratwn of 

bells, the firing of cannon, and other similar de- 
monstrations of joy. At ten o'clock, upon a 
signal given from the governor's house, the com- 
munity prepared to join in the general cavalcade, 
and assembled in the great square. The religious 
orders appeared in their respective dresses, novi- 
ciates, lay-brothers, and fathers, with music, cho- 
risters, banners, pictures, and precious relics. 
Assembled nations crowded around, and it seemed 
as if people from all parts of the earth were col- 
lected together, presenting every different shade 
of compaction, from the white and ruddy inha- 
bitant of Northern Europe,, to the sable-hued 
native of Guinea. The outsides of the houses, 
round the square were hung with festoons of 
flow 7 ers, and live birds, tied with strings to pre- 
vent their escape, but long enough to admit of 
their fluttering sufficiently to expand their beau- 
tiful plumage ; a contrivance which had a very 
picturesque effect. Upon a volley being fired by 
a party of soldiers, the whole garrison being 
drawn up on one side of the square, the proces- 
sion commenced. The military, fully accoutred, 
first filed off, two and two, with martial music, 
halting at intervals to discharge their pieces; the 
church bells ringing, and the ships in the harbour 
saluting. Next came the religious of the order 
of St. Francis; then a second division of the mi- 
litary, and the choristers of the cathedral; to 
these succeeded the monastic orders of St. Jago 
and St. Dominic; borne upon a richly decorated 



the festival of Corpus Christ 7. 3S7 

and lofty altar, then appeared the elements of the 
eucharist, surrounded by all the people of the first 
rank and quality in the city, most richly dressed, 
some of them bearing lighted tapers highly per- 
fumed, others incense, many banners, and not a 
few relics . the whole groupe flanked by soldiers 
on horseback, in their newest and best attire, 
firing alternately to the right and left; and where- 
ever a cross appeared, which was at the end of 
almost every street, the whole cavalcade halted to 
chant the service appointed for the day. After 
the eucharist, came another division of soldiers, 
and after them, all the other religious of the town. 
The procession passed through the middle of the 
streets, the sides of which were thronged by the 
mixed multitude of every complection, of every 
age, and of both sexes; but, notwithstanding 
their numbers, all ranged in regular order, and 
observing a profound silence, except when they 
joined in the general responses of the service. 

The decorations of the houses were beyond con- 
ception magnificent. Every habitation was hung 
either with tapestry or coloured cottons of various 
dyes, ornamented with feathers, festoons of flowers, 
and numerous and costly ornaments and utensils, 
of gold, silver, and jewels, all the riches of the 
owners being displayed on this solemn occasion. 
Across the streets triumphal arches stretched at 
intervals, composed of boughs of trees artfully in- 
terwoven, loaded with fruit, and enlivened by a 
great variety of living birds, suspended in eagles 

2 c 2 



38S Religious ceremonies. 

or tied with strings. Tables with every species of 
eatables were set out at intervals, and close to the 
houses were likewise placed numbers of living 
/animals, young lions, tigers, wolves, dogs, and 
monkies, carefully secured, so as to prevent any 
possibility of their hurting the passengers. From 
the windows were suspended baskets, containing 
every variety of seed and grain with which they 
meant to sow the ground, and upon w r hich they 
invoked the benediction of the passing deity. The 
ground was strewed with herbs and flowers, in 
many places so regularly disposed as to resemble 
the most delicate carpets. When the procession 
reached the cathedral, the air was rent by the 
multitude of voices, and the edifice was entered 
under a heavy discharge of artillery from the fort 
and from the ships in the harbour, and of mus- 
quetry from the soldiers in the streets. Here 
hie'h mass was celebrated and the sacrament ad- 
ministere'd, w r ith the utmost solemnity and pomp; 
and the cavalcade afterwards returned in the same 
order. The principal inhabitants and Indian ca- 
ciques were invited to the governor's, where a 
plentiful banquet was provided for them. The 
provisions exhibited in the street, were distributed 
by the priests amongst the inhabitants, who en- 
tertained all strangers that chose to partake of 
them. At night there was a general rejoicing, 
with fire-w r orks, dancing, bull-feasts, and martial 
exercises. 

Before quitting the subject of religion, it is 



Bigotry much abated. 389 

right to remark, that the proverbial bigotry of the 
Spaniards seems of late to be much relaxed at 
Buenos Ay res and its vicinity. More liberal sen- 
timents begin to prevail, and, whether arising, as 
some have supposed, from a tincture of the French 
philosophy imparted to them by their alliance with 
revolutionary France, from the leaven of the 
former popular commotions that prevailed in these 
provinces, or from the natural progression of the 
human mind towards its emancipation from pre- 
judice and error; both more freedom of discus- 
sion, and more toleration in religious matters, are 
to be found now than formerly. The treatment 
experienced at Montevideo by the protestant mis- 
sionaries to the South Sea, who were captured in 
the ship Duff, and carried into Rio de la Plata, in 
1799, strongly exemplifies this observation. They 
were repeatedly pressed to stay in the country, 
and they were promised that their religious prin- 
ciples should be connived at, and neither their 
private worship impeded, nor their compliance 
with any of the outward forms of the Roman 
religion be required. Their mechanical profes- 
sions appear to have been, in this case, the in- 
ducements for the application. Rut it is a re- 
markable instance of toleration, that they were 
not only suffered, under the denomination of 
padres lutheranos, to perform their own religious 
exercises, but even to administer the rites of bap- 
tism, according to the protestant faith, to two of 

2 c 3 



390 Treatment of English missionaries. 

their children born in the country, in the presence 
of a numerous company.* 

Of the general manners of the Spaniards, very 
favourable traits occur in the narrative of those 
missionaries. In particular on the occasion al- 
luded to ; curiosity to be present at one of the 
sacramental rituals of an heretic communion, had 
allured several of the principal inhabitants of 
Montevideo of both sexes, accompanied by nu- 
merous domestics, to the habitation of the mis- 
sionaries; but uninvited and unexpected, they 
knew that adequate provision for their entertain- 
ment could not be made by " prisoners in a 
strange land," and the English were not a little 
surprised, to see hampers unloaded and brought 
into the house, containing provisions from town, 
all ready dressed, and in abundant variety; meat 
of all kinds, turkies, ducks, pigeons, chickens, 
wild fowl, tongues, pastry, sweetmeats, soups, 
bread, wine of all sorts, coffee, &c. with table 
and coffee services, and servants to wait upon the 
company. The consideration and liberality of the 

* One of these missionaries gives the following quaint, but ex? 
pressive, form of baptism used on the occasion, " I baptized my 
" son, naming him Ebenezer Gershom, in the name of the 
" father, and of the son, and of the holy ghost, in the presence 
" of Europeans, Africans, and Americans, of different senti- 
s< ments and professions, Roman catholics, protestants, and 
** infidels, selected from different nations of the globe, from 
*' France, Spain, England, Africa, North and South Ame-^ 
'* rica." 



Manners of the Spaniards. 391 

Spaniards appears to have been uniformly exerted 
towards these English prisoners, whose female com- 
panions were treated with the utmost respect and 
attention by the Spanish ladies. A less favour- 
able specimen of the British Fair had, a short time 
before, been seen in the country, where the female 
convicts, from the Lady Shore transport, which 
had been carried into Montevideo by mutineers, 
had been landed. Their dissolute manners, and 
degraded habits, soon withdrew from them the 
humane attention with which they had at first 
been treated, and most of them were sent into 
the interior of the country, where they will add 
to the inextricable mixture of races that prevails, 
and their progeny may supply a half-bred British 
population, the taint of wmose maternal descent, 
it is to be hoped, may be obliterated by an 
absence from the scenes of temptation and vice 
which gave rise to the compulsive emigration of 
their mothers. 

The Spaniards of America are said to cany the 
vices of pride and indolence of their mother- 
countrv to a great and intolerable excess. The 
siesta, or afternoon's repose of two hours, is a 
custom so universal, that even the workmen will 
seldom forego it, by which a considerable propor- 
tion of productive labour is lost to the community. 
To sleep, talk, smoke segars, and ride on horseback, 
are the occupations of the day ; and from the abund- 
ance and cheapness of horses and mules, no Span- 
iard, whether a chapetone or^ a Creole, is seen on 



Manners and dresses 



foot. Few families of any note, in Buenos 
Ayres and Montevideo, have less than six or 
eight domestic negro-slaves, and many keep from 
forty to fifty, to perform the various offices of 
menial servitude, or to serve the purposes of os- 
tentation on occasions of festivity. 

The women of the superior classes pass their lives 
in a similar or greater state of inutility than those 
of civilized Europe. The mornings are employed 
in the offices of religion, in sitting in their en- 
trance-halls, playing the guitar, or receiving and 
paying visits: the middle of the day is devoted to 
sleep; and the evening to dress, music, conversation, 
or occasionally, dancing, cards not being in fashion, 
Their female slaves attend to every domestic con-* 
cern, in which it would be considered as degrading 
for their mistresses to intermeddle. Though they 
appear veiled in public, or at least wear large 
black hoods, which serve the same purpose, they 
live at home in perfect freedom, and the charac- 
teristic jealousy of the Spaniards seems to have 
abandoned them in the new world. This passion 
seldom disturbs the tranquillity of either sex ; 
amorous intrigues are as frequent as the supersti- 
tious rituals of the church ; illegitimate children 
are publicly acknowledged, and, provided no taint 
of colour disqualifies them, are entitled to the 
right of inheritance, and enjoy equal respect with 
the other Creoles. 

The dress of the men is mostly an imitation of 
the French style before the revolution; the old 



of the Spaniards. 393 

Spanish garb being laid aside, except on occasions 
of ceremony, when the doublet, hose, and cloak, 
o'f party-coloured silk, with their usual appendages 
of fringe, lace, or ribbons, a feathered hat and 
a long sword, distinguish the hidalgos and caval- 
leros from the community. The cloak, however, 
is very generally worn abroad, and small cutlasses 
or long knives, supply the place of the ancient 
toledo. The dress of the students at the uni- 
versity of Cordova is thus described: a doublet, 
hose and cloak of black cotton, a Genoese velvet 
hat, and shoes and stockings of silk, the former 
fastened with bunches of ribbon. 

The ladies of Buenos Ayres are reckoned the 
most agreeable and handsome of all South Ame- 
rica. An English traveller has not, however, con- 
sidered them as equalling his countrywomen in 
beauty, yet the playful voluptuousness of their 
manners, conversation, and dress, contrasting 
with the gravity and taciturnity of the men, are 
described as calculated to please and designed to 
ensnare. Their usual dress is of light silk, and 
fine cotton, with a profusion of lace, which rather 
displays than conceals the contour of the bosom. 
No head-dress or cap confines or encumbers their 
long and flowing black hair. A petticoat that 
descends scarcely below the knee, is lengthened 
by folds of deep lace, which seldom hide from 
view even the gold fringe of their tasseled garters. 
At their assemblies, the brilliancy of their ap- 
pearance excites admiration. A petticoat of va- 



Dress of the ladies. 

rions coloured taffeta, ornamented with gold lace, 
or fringe, richly tasseled, though carried down to 
the feet, is worn with sufficient art to conceal, 
and with sufficient address, at'intervals to display, 
the shape of the leg, which is encircled by a silk 
stocking with a fanciful and luxuriant display of 
gold embroidery. Slippers of embroidered silk, 
or gold brocade, with diamond buckles or clasps, 
but unpleasantly high-heeled, and sometimes with 
heels of solid silver, aclorn the feet. A kind of 
jacket of rich velvet is fitted tight to the shape, 
and laced or buttoned in front, with long points 
hanging down quite round the petticoat, and 
trimmed at the ends with pearl tassels. A cloak 
of gauze, or very fine cotton, hanging down to 
the ground, and occasionally fastened to the side 
by a clasp of jewels, is thrown over the shoulders, 
whichwouid.be otherwise wholly uncovered; as 
would also be the beauties of the bosom, but for 
the i n n u m e r a o le trinkets, jewels, necklaces and 
crosses, with which its luxuriance is hidden; the 
principal of these is a large oval or round gold 
plate in the middle, connected with abroad ribbon 
that passes over the shoulders, and under the 
arms, and returning, forms a sash round the waist. 
A head-dress, consisting either of a handkerchief 
of gold gauze wiMi bi d ids of diamonds, or of 
chains of gold twisted in and out of their shining 
black hair, completes the attire of ceremony of a 
lady of rank. 

The national dance of the fandango is as great a 



Public companies, 393 

favourite here as in Spain, and the calendu, still 
more indecent, which has been introduced by the 
negroes from the coast of Guinea, has no less be- 
come the pastime of the Spanish inhabitants. 
At their assemblies, the etiquette of rank seems 
to be nearly abolished; all, provided they are 
not contaminated by negro or Indian blood, 
are admitted, and a good dancer of the fan- 
dango carries his recommendation to the first 
company in his heels. At their grand repasts, 
which are taken in the evening, and are pro- 
fuse in the extreme, it is considered as gen- 
teel for every one to eat as much as possible, 
and the guests may likewise take away with 
them as much as they please, without derogat- 
ing in the least from the rules of good breed- 
ing. In public companies the sexes intermingle, 
but in private, the men are not allowed to- sit 
amongst the women, unless they are invited, 
and such a favour is considered as a great fa- 
miiiarity. From this restraint, however, eccle- 
siastics of all descriptions are free. A priest, 
young or old, may enter a house at what time 
he pleases, go into whatever apartment he sees 
fit, and stay as long as he thinks proper. 
They pass and repass perfectly at their ease. 
They form a considerable proportion of all 
public assemblies, mix promiscuously in all so- 
cieties, and appear to be the confidants of all. 

When on horseback, the Spaniards wear the 
Indian poncho or cloak, which in shape is some- 



396 



Manners and customs 



thing similar to the smock-frock of our farmers 
and carters. It is much more convenient than 
the common cloak : it secures the wearer from 
the rain, is not ruffled by the wind, and not 
only serves him for a coverlid at night, but 
also for a carpet when he rests in the fields. 
It is often adorned with costly embroidery, 
and those used by men of rank, sometimes 
cost from two to three hundred piastres. 

Their equipages are imported from Europe, 
and do not partake of the clumsiness of the 
harness, which is made in the country, and 
which either consists of thongs of leather or 
hempen ropes, that would be considered as 
disgraceful to an English farmer's team. The 
saddles and stirrups are both curious and 
clumsy, and the bridles painful to the beast. 
In accoutring a horse, three or four pieces of 
sheepskin are first put on its back, then a 
horsecloth doubled, next two large pieces of 
leather curiously cut round the borders, then 
the saddle is fastened on with a girth, and a 
large furry skin covers the whole. The stu- 
mps are of various kinds, some being only 
pieces of wood in a triangular form, others are 
clumsy logs with a hole cut for the admission 
of the toes, and curiously carved. Some bridles 
have a little notched wheel, which, when pulled, 
rattles and cuts the horse's tongue, and others 
have a piece of iron which lies fiat upon the 
tongue, both of which have a powerful effect, 



of the Spaniards. 397 

but render the horses hard-mouthed, and com- 
pel the constant use of a tight rein. 

Within doors the Spaniards are described as 
filthy in the extreme. Ablution of any kind is 
never, or very negligently, performed. The 
rooms of the wealthy are swept with a broom 
made of a kind of stiff grass that grows in 
the swamps ; but the domestics follow the in- 
dolent example set them by their superiors; 
and none of them will do the least work be- 
yond what is their allotted portion. Flies and 
various kinds of vermin are abundant plagues 
in eveiy house, and the ravages of the ants 
are only equalled by those of the rats and 
mice. They do not use feather-beds, but lie on 
matrasses ; the lower ones are made of pimento- 
leaves, stitched in fine cotton ; the upper ones 
of fine wool, or the down of geese, laid be- 
tween pimento-leaves, and covered with silk 
or velvet. The sheets are generally of very 
fine cotton, neatly trimmed with lace, the blan- 
kets of the finest Spanish wool, very thin ; the 
coverlid of silk or velvet, fringed with gold or 
silver, the curtains are made of East . India 
gauze, elegantly painted: these curtains are kept 
close drawn, and fastened down with small 
hooks to the lowest matrass, in order to pre- 
vent the intrusion of the flies: the bedsteads "are 
high, and generally placed in a"recess or alcove. 

Of their cookery, Englishmen give but an 
indifferent account, and have considered the 



SOS Mulattos and 

bountiful provision of nature as spoiled by the 
perverted taste of man. Both meat and fish are 
disguised, and their flavour undiscernible, by 
the accumulation of spice, eggs, oil, onions, 
and garlic, with which they are dished up. In- 
stead of butter, they make use of beef suet, 
melted down and refined, better than tallow* 
but not quite so good as the dripping of our 
kitchens. They kill a sow for the sake of her 
unfarrowed pigs, and a cow for her calf, con- 
sidering both as delicate morsels. 

The third class of inhabitants in the Spa- 
nish colonies is a mixed race, and are either 
mulattos or mestizos, or their various colateral 
branches already enumerated. As- the court of 
Spain, solicitous to incorporate its new vassals 
with its ancient subjects, early encouraged the 
Spaniards, settled in America, to intermarry 
with the natives of that country, several alliances 
of this kind were formed in the infant colonies. 
But it has been more owing to licentious in- 
dulgence, than to compliance with the injunc- 
tions of the sovereign, that this mixed breed 
has multiplied so greatly, as to constitute a 
considerable part of the population in all the 
Spanish settlements. The several stages of de- 
scent in this race, and the gradual variations 
of shade, until the African black, or the copper 
colour of America, brighten into an European 
complection, are accurately marked and defined 
by the Spaniards. Those of the first and se- 



Mestizo,?. 



€>ond descent, are politically considered as mere 
Indians and negroes ; but in the third descent, 
the characteristic hue of the former disappears; 
and in the fifth, the deeper tint of the latter fa 
so entirely effaced, that they can no longer be 
distinguished from Europeans ; but yet, unless 
they- conceal the condemning stigma of a co- 
loured origin, they do not become entitled to the 
privileges of such. It is chiefly by this mixed 
race, whose frame is remarkably robust and 
hardy, that the mechanic arts are carried on, 
and other active functions of society discharged, 
which the two higher classes, from pride or from 
indolence, disdain to exercise. 

In this numerous and useful, though, in some 
measure, degraded, class of the community, are 
found likewise professors and teachers of the 
liberal arts, and the mestizos in particular ap- 
ply themselves to music, in which they make 
a considerable proficiency. Most retail trades 
are carried on by them, and the hired servants 
are almost all either mulattos or mestizos. Thr. 
females of this mixed race too frequently devote 
themselves to meretricious allurement; and ac- 
quire an ascendancy over the minds and per- 
sons of their paramours, which the women of 
Spanish or creolian race fail in attaining. They 
affect to dress in the same style as the Spanish ladies* 
though they cannot rival them in the richness of the 
materials. The men in general wear a blue cloth 
manufactured in the country, and are ambitious 



400 Negroes,. 

of imitating the Spaniards, both in the colour 
and fashion the clothes they wear. 

The negroes hold the fourth rank amongst 
1 the inhabitants of the Spanish colonies. Though 
the Spaniards do not themselves engage in the 
nefarious traffic in slaves from Africa, they do 
not scruple to purchase those which are brought 
to them by others. They are mostly employed 
in domestic service ; they form a principal part 
of the train of luxury, and are cherished and 
caressed by their superiors, to whose vanity 
and pleasures they are equally subservient. 
Their dress and appearance are hardly less 
splendid than that of their masters, whose man- 
ners they imitate, and whose passions they im- 
bibe* Elevated by this distinction they have 
assumed such a tone of superiority over the In- 
dians, and treat them with such insolence and 
scorn, that the antipathy between the two races 
has become implacable. The laws have in- 
dustriously fomented this aversion, and thus, by 
an artful policy, the Spaniards derive strength 
from that circumstance in population, which is the 
weakness of other European colonies, and have 
secured, as associates and defenders, those very 
persons who are elsewhere objects of jealousy 
and terror. The purchased slaves are far bet- 
ter treated than the conquered Indians:' for, 
the former are private property, the latter be- 
long to the king, and are only lent for two 
lives to the holders of the encomiendas. 



Indians, 



401 



Occasion has before been taken to detail the 
mode in which the personal services of the 
Indians are distributed, as well as the abuses 
that occurred, and the ineffectual attempts at 
redress. A few further general observations, 
when considering the present situation of the 
Indians as the fifth and last class of the inha- 
bitants of Spanish America, will, however, not 
be here misplaced. 

By the regulations of Charles V. in 1542, 
the pretensions of the conquerors of the new 
world, who considered its inhabitants as their 
slaves, were abrogated. From that period the 
Indians were reputed to be freemen, and en- 
titled to the privileges of subjects. But as no 
considerable benefit could be expected to the 
community from the voluntary efforts of men, 
unacquainted with regular industry and averse 
to labour, it was found necessary to fix what 
was thought reasonable to exact from them ; 
an annual tax was imposed upon every male 
from the age of eighteen to fifty ; and the na- 
ture and extent of the services that they might 
be required to perform, were ascertained with 
precision. The amount of this tribute has va- 
ried at different times and in different pro- 
vinces, but its present annual medium may be 
estimated at a piastre a head, though they 
were originally rated at four or five piastres. 
Though this may seem no exorbitant sum in 
countries, where, as at the source of wealth, 

2 J) 



402 Services of the 

the value of money is very low, such is the 
extreme poverty of the Indians in some parts, 
that the exaction of it is intolerably oppres- 
sive. Every Indian is either an immediate vas- 
sal of the crown, or depends upon some sub- 
ject to whom the district in which he lives 
has been granted for a limited time as an en- 
comienda ; and the tribute is paid respectively 
either into the royal treasury or to the enco- 
manderos, excepting a fourth part, which is re- 
served for the purposes presently to be men- 
tioned. When Spain first took possession of 
America, the greater part was parcelled out 
amongst its conquerors, and only a small por- 
tion was reserved for the crown. As those 
grants, which were made for two lives only, 
reverted successively to the king, he had it in 
his power either to diffuse his favours by 
grants to new proprietors, or to augment his 
own revenue by valuable annexations. The 
latter alternative was frequently adopted, the 
number of Indians now depending on the crown 
is much greater than in the first stage after 
the conquest, and this branch of the royal re- 
venue continues to increase. 

The services which can now be legally de- 
manded of the Indians, are very different from 
the tasks originally imposed upon thein. They 
are either employed in works of primary ne- 
cessity, without which society cannot comfortably 
: exist, or are compelled to labour in the mines. 



Indians. 



403 



They are in consequence obliged to assist in the 
culture of maize, and other grain of necessary 
consumption ; in tending cattle; in erecting edi- 
fices of public utility ; in building bridges; and 
in forming roads; but they cannot be constrained 
to labour in raising vines, olives, or sugar-canes, 
or in any species of cultivation which tends to 
commercial profit, or to the gratification of lux- 
ury : but they are also forced to undertake the 
unwholsome and onerous task of extracting the. 
ore from the bowels of the earth, and of separat-' 
ino* and refining it. The mode of exacting these 
services is under regulations, framed with a view 
of rendering them as little oppressive as possible. 
They are called out successively, in divisions, 
termed metas, and no person can be compelled to 
go but hi his turn. The number called out must 
not exceed the seventh part of the inhabitants in 
any district; and each meta, or division, destined 
for the mines, remains there six months. They 
are paid at the rate of four reals per day, and 
have often opportunities of earning double that 
.sum. No Indians residing at a greater distance 
than thirty miles from a mine, ai;e included in 
.the meta employed in working it; nor are the 
inhabitants of the low country exposed now to 
certain destruction, as they were at first, by 
being compelled to remove from that warm cli- 
mate, to the cold and elevated regions of the 
.mines. 

In the principal towns, the Indians are entirely 
2 d 2 



404 Regulations respecting 

subject to the Spanish laws and magistrates; bnt 
in their own villages they are governed by caci- 
ques, according to the maxims of justice trans- 
mitted to them by their ancestors. To tl?e In- 
dians this jurisdiction, lodged in such friendly 
hands, affords some consolation ; and so little for- 
midable is this dignity to their masters, that they 
often allow it to descend by hereditary right. For 
the further relief of men so much exposed to op- 
pression, an officer in every district is appointed 
with the title of protector of the Indians. It is 
his function to assert their rights, to appear as 
their defender m the courts of justice, and to set 
bounds to the encroachments and exactions of his 
countrymen, A certain portion of the reserved 
fourth of the tribute is destined for the salaries of 
the caciques and protectors; another is applied to 
the maintenance of the clergy employed in the 
instruction of the Indians; and another part is 
appropriated for the benefit of the Indians them- 
selves, and is applied to make up the deficiency 
of the tribute in years of scarcity, or when a 
particular district is afflicted by any local cala- 
mity. 

Such is the solicitude displayed, and the pre- 
cautions multiplied, for the preservation and the 
security of the Indians in the Spanish colonies. 
But these later regulations, like the more early 
edicts, have too often proved ineffectual remedies; 
and where the same causes have continued to ope- 
rate, the same effects have followed. From such 



the Indians. 



405 



$n immense distance between the power entrusted 
with the execution of laws, and that by whom 
they are enacted, the vigour, even of the most 
absolute government, must relax, and the dread 
of a superior, too remote to observe with accuracy, 
or to punish with dispatch, must insensibly abate. 
The Indians still suffer on many occasions, both 
from the avarice of individuals, and from the ex- 
actions of the magistrates who ought to protect 
them ; unreasonable tasks are imposed ; the term 
of their labour is prolonged beyond the period 
fixed by law, and they groan under many of the 
insults and wrongs that are the lot of a conquered 
and dependent people. They are consequently 
timid, suspicious, and deceitful. They shrink 
from the voice of a Spaniard, and foster the most 
bitter, but secret, animosity of the soul against 
their masters. The Indians alone are employed in 
the mines ; it is alleged that neither the whites, the 
negroes, nor even the mestizos, can bear the de- 
leterious labour; but it may shrewdly be sus- 
pected that the pride, the indolence, and the 
partial freedom, which those classes enjoy, alone 
prevent their sharing in the noxious employment, 
which, notwithstanding the boasted ability of the 
Indians, it is well known, destroys the largest 
proportion of the miners, cither by rapid morta- 
lity, or by the slow germs of disease with which 
they return to their habitations. Although the 
service of the mines is considered as most de- 
structive ; those of agriculture, and of public 

2 D 3 



406 Character of the 

work, the labour of which can not be prescribed 
with legal Accuracy, are in a great measure arbi- 
trary, and like those exacted by feudal superiors 
from their vassals, are extremely burthensome, 
and often wantonly oppressive. Yet this oppres- 
sion does not uniformly or invariably exist, and 
in many of the more remote districts, where there 
are few Spaniards, the Indians enjoy not only 
ease, but affluence; they possess large farms; 
they are masters of numerous herds and flocks; 
they even work mines or lavatories for their own 
benefit ; and by the knowledge they have ac- 
quired of European arts and industry, and the 
exuberant abundance of their country, are sup- 
plied not only with the necessaries, but with 
many of the luxuries, of life. 

The character of these Indios fideles, the civilized 
or subjected Indians, is not easily defined. Those 
who inhabit the interior provinces of the vice- 
royalty, retain many traces of the ancient civili- 
zation of the Peruvians; and those of Tucuman, 
Paraguay, and Rio de la Plata, partake of the 
national character of their savage ancestors; but 
the manners of all are blended and disguised by 
the operation of the bondage to which they have 
been reduced. They, in general, possess a stoical 
tranquillity, which may be ascribed to their de- 
spair of ever redeeming their liberties. In their 
mean apparel they seem as contented as the mo- 
narch clothed with the most splendid inventions 
of luxury. They equally disregard riches, and 



subjeeted Indians. 407 

even that authority which is within their reach is 
so little the object of their ambition, that, to all 
appearance, it is the same thing* to an Indian, 
whether he be made a cacique or an alcalde, or 
required to perform the office of a common exe- 
cutioner. Their natural indolence is represented 
to be so great, that fear can not stimulate, nor 
respect induce, nor even punishment scarcely 
compel, them to exertion. They are in general 
remarkably slow, but very persevering, and this 
has given rise to a proverbial saying, when any 
thing of little value in itself requires a great deal 
of time and patience, that it is only fit to be done 
by an Indian. In weaving carpets, curtains, 
quilts, and other stuffs, being unacquainted with 
any better method of passing the woof, they have 
the patience every time to count Ihe threads one 
by one, so that a year or two is requisite to finish 
a single piece. But the care of almost every work 
is left to their women ; who spin, and make their 
apparel, cook the food, grind the barley, roast 
the maize, and brew the chica. The only do- 
mestic labour in which the men engage, is the 
ploughing of their chacara, or little spot of land; 
but the sowing, and the rest of the culture, is 
done by their w T ives and children. 

The tasks which are imposed upon them by 
their masters, are performed with reluctance* and 
require the constant attendance of overseers. The 
only thing for which they shew any alacrity, is 
for entertainments of dancing, singing, and drink- 

2d4 



408 



Manners. 



ing. They never fail on these occasions to drink 
till they are completely overcome by the liquor. 
It is worth notice, however, that the Indian wo- 
men, whether married or single, as well as the 
young unmarried men, entirely abstain from in- 
temperate excess ; it being a maxim amongst them, 
that drunkenness is the exclusive privilege of 
masters of families, as being persons, who, when 
they are unable to take care of themselves, have 
others to perform that office. The person who 
gives the entertainment, provides chica enough 
for ail the guests he invites, at the rate of a 
jug, which contains about two gallons, for each. 
The eatables seldom consist of any thing but 
parched maize, or boiled herbs. The women hand 
the chica round in calebashes; a kind of pipe and 
tabor is the music, and the dancing, which con- 
sists principally of various attitudes and gestures, 
not reconcileable to our ideas of decorum, com- 
mences ; their mirth continues while kept up by the 
liquor, or till they sink under their intemperance. 
Neither conjugal ties, nor the nearest degrees of 
relationship, are restraints upon the promiscuous 
sexual intercourse that ensues; and it is a maxim, 
that the husbands must not resent, either upon 
their wives or their gallants, the privileged fami- 
liarities of these orgies, although, on other occa- 
sions, the chastity of their married women is an 
object of solicitude. The day after the festival is 
called concho, which signifies the day for drinking 
off the remains of the preceding; with these they 



Burials. Duellings. 409 

begin, and if not sufficient, they club for more; 
which frequently occasions a new concho for the 
next clay, and so on, till no more cliica is to be had. 

Their burials are likewise celebrated with exces- 
sive drinking. The house of mourning is filled 
with jugs of chica, and all of the nation who 
happen to pass by are invited to ccme in and 
drink to the honour of the deceased. The cere- 
mony lasts four or five days; for strong liquor 
is their supreme wish and the great object of all 
their labours. 

Their huts are small, and have a fire-place in 
the centre. Their beds in some parts consist of 
two or three sheep-skins, in others they tie a bul- 
lock's hide by the four corners, to four short posts 
stuck in the ground, and they never undress. 
They breed poultry and hogs, and are particularly 
fond of dogs: and here it is worth observing, that 
the dogs bred by the Spaniards and Mulattoes, and 
those bred by the Indians, are animated by the 
mutual hatred of their masters ; the former will 
fall upon an Indian whenever he approaches them, 
and the latter attack with equal fury every Spa- 
niard or Mulatto they meet. Round some of 
their huts a wall is erected, about four feet high, 
wholly built of bullocks' heads, one above the 
other, with the horns, as cut from the animal's 
neck. Their food chiefly consists of beef, fruit, 
and maize: the usual method of cooking their beef 
is to suspend it over a fire on the earth, upon an 
iron or wooden spit; and they cut off pieces 



410 Re I iglo iu M arriages. 

as they want it, when little more 'than warmed* 
through. 

The superstition of their ancestors has not 
been superseded amongst the Indians by that 
of the church of Rome, for they often inter- 
mingle the practices of both. Their know- 
ledge of the christian religion is superficial, 
and their observance of its worship in general 
compulsory *. In their marriages they depart 
from the sentiments of most other nations, 
esteeming what others' detest; a virgin being 
never the object of their choice. They look 
upon it as a sure indication, that a girl who 
has not been known to others, can have no- 
thing pleasing about her. The} 7, generally live 
together three or four months before they many, 
which they call Amanarse, to habituate them- 
selves ; and this custom is so common 'that the 

* An Indian had for some time absented himself from the ser- 
vice of the church, and the priest being informed that it was owing 
to bis having been employed in drinking, charged him on a Sun- 
day, when he had been particularly ordered to make bis appear- 
ance, with his fault, and directed that he should receive some lashes, 
the usual punishment of such delinquents. After undergoing this 
castigation, he turned about to the priest, and thanked him for hav- 
ing chastised him according to his deserts ; to which the priest re- 
plied by an exhortation to him, and to the audience in general, never 
to omit the duties of Christianity. But he had no sooner finished 
than the Indian stepped up to him, and requested that he would 
order a like number of lashes to be given him for the next Sunday, 
as he could not come to church, having made an appointment fox 
a drinking-match. 



Intrepidity. Hunting. 411 

priests, when they many, always give them 
absolution from that sin before they bestow 
the nuptial benediction. It is not uncommon 
for then) to change their wives, and when the 
parties are agreed, they cannot be persuaded 
of the impropriety of it, and the priests are 
obliged to wink at this irregularity. 

They regard death with indifference, and 
are unconcerned at its nearest approach. Their 
intrepidity shews itself on many occasions ; 
and when they fight in a body, they fall on 
without any regard to superiority of numbers. 
They are very dexterous in haltering a bull at 
full speed, and, fearless of danger, attack him 
with great temerity. With the same dexterity 
they hunt bears, in the mountains of the Cor- 
dillera, where those animals abound. A single 
Indian with only his horse and a noose, never 
fails of subduing the rao-e, and circumventing 
the cunning, of a bear. The noose is made of 
cow-hide, so thin as not to be seized by the 
beast's paws, yet so strong as not to be broken 
by its struggles. On perceiving the bear, the 
Indian makes towards him, whilst he sits up 
in order to seize the horse; but when come 
within the proper distance, the Indian throws 
the noose over the creature's neck ; then, with 
surprising celerity, having taken two or three 
turns with the other end about the saddle, he 
claps spurs to his horse ; and the bear, unable 



412 



Diseases. 



to keep pace with the horse, and struggling to 
dear himself of the noose, is choaked. 

The Indians in general are robust and of a 
good constitution. The syphilitic disease, though 
very common amongst the other inhabitants, is 
seldom known amongst them. Their unsuscep- 
trbility to the venom of this distemper, is at- 
tributed by some to a quality in the chica, 
their common drink. The disease which makes 
the greatest havock amongst them is the small- 
pox ; which is so fatal that few escape it, and 
it is considered as a pestilence. It is not 
continual, as in other countries, seven or eight 
years, or more, passing without its being heard 
of; but when it prevails, its malignity is great, 
and the desolation general. The beneficent 
promoters of the invaluable discovery of Jen- 
ner, will now have the means of diffusing . the 
blessings of vaccination, through the extensive 
regions of South America; and to Britain, the 
inhabitants of that continent will probably be in- 
debted for a termination to the destructive ravages 
of the small-pox, which may at a future time be 
known only to their posterity by tradition. 
Tabardillos, or petechial fevers, occur too amongst 
the Indians, for which they have an expeditious, 
but singular, method of treatment. They lay the 
patient near the fire, on the sheepskins that 
compose his bed, and close by him place a jug 
of chica ; the heat of the fever and that of the 



Clothing. 413 

fire, together cause a vehement thirst; by in- 
cessant drinking the eruption is augmented, and 
the next morning he is either in a fair way of 
recovery, or so bad as to be carried off in a day 
or two. Such as escape or recover from these 
diseases, attain an advanced age ; and both sexes 
afford many instances of remarkable longevity. 

The poncho, already noticed, is the princi- 
pal part of their dress. It is generally made 
of thick woollen stuff, but sometimes of cotton, 
and not unfrequently of matted straw, mostly 
of a blue colour, and striped either transversely 
or longitudinally, with red or white. Their stock- 
ings and boots are made of skins flayed from 
the legs of horses and cows, in the same shap£ 
as when taken from the beast. Their shoes 
are pieces of stout hide, turned up and tied 
with slips of the same. 

The importation and multiplication of horses 
in South America, have rendered all the In- 
dians, both those which are, subdued, and such 
as still remain in a savage state, expert horse- 
men ; and even the women excel in the ma- 
nagement of horses. The hunting of the wild 
cattle in the plains of the Pampas, \s princi- 
pally the occupation of the Indians and mes- 
tizos. The manner in wjiich they carry on 
their attacks on the cattle is generally as fol- 
lows :— * A number of hunters, in company, re- 
pair on horsebagk to the places to which the 
wild cattle principally resort, provided with a 



414 Modes of hunting 

long pole, the extremity of which is armed with & 
sharp iron blade, crossing the shaft obliquely. 
With this weapon the hunter dexterously rips 
open the throat of the bullock. They use this 
method, as by piercing the body with lances 
or bullets the hides would be spoiled* An- 
other method is with a .sharp iron crescent, the 
points of which are about a foot across, at 
the end of the pole, with which the hunter 
hamstrings the beast. Both these operations 
are performed without checking the horse; and 
when the prey has fallen, the hunter leaves it 
to pursue another beast, which he reduces in 
the same manner. When he has thus secured 
a sufficient number, or is fatigued with the 
exercise, he returns, finds out the spots where 
his beasts lie, which he is careful to impress 
on his memory, finally dispatches and skins 
them, carrying away the fat or suet, wrapped 
up in the hide, and sometimes the tongue, and 
leaving the carcase a prey to the wild dogs 
and vultures. 

The lal^e herds of cattle that are kept at 
the estancias - or grazing farms, are nearly in a 
wild state from the extent jpf the pastures in 
which they range, and are,: sometimes hunted 
and caught in the same manner as the wild 
cattle. In general, however, the cattle in- 
tended to be killed, are driven into an inclo- 
sure. At the gate are the peasants on horse- 
back, with their crescent spears ; as many beasts 



and slaughtering cattle. 4 1 -5 

are then turned out as there are men in 
wafting, and each pursues his prey; they are 
immediately hamstringed, dispatched, and flayed ; 
and this exercise continues daily till all the 
cattle appointed for that year's slaughter are 
killed. An European is surprised, not only at 
their dexterity in hamstringing the beast, when 
both are on full speed, but also to see one 
man go through the whole work, with such 
regularity and dispatch ; for each skins his 
beast, takes out the tallow, and cuts up the 
flesh for salting and drying; he then wraps the 
fat in the hide, and loading it on his horse 
carries it to the farm, returning again for the 
flesh. If the bullock be swifter than the horse, 
the peasant has recourse to his noose, and 
halters him by throwing it round his neck, 
or entangles one or two of his legs in the 
noose, as opportunity offers, and by that means 
secures him. Another method is as follows: 
when ready to begin, two mount their horses 
with their catch-ropes, which are thirty or 
forty yards in length, with the long noose at 
.one end, the other being fastened to the saddle. 
One of them rides in amongst the cattle, and, 
selecting a beast, throws his noose round his 
horns and gallops away. The rope being run 
out, the other is ready with his noose, and 
swinging his rope several times over his head, 
he watches the opportunity of the beast kick- 
ing and struggling, and entangles one of the 



416 Catchrupe and noose. 

Kmd legs. Both the horses immediately draw 
the rope tight in opposite directions, and, 
being well trained to the exercise, stand so firm 
that the beast cannot move. Another man 
now advances and hamstrings with a large 
knife the hind leg that is not secured, upon 
which the animal immediately fails, and his 
throat is cut. Though this to a stranger ap- 
pears a tedious process, no more than four or 
five minutes are required to execute such a 
task by those who are experienced in it. 

Another singular mode at their matanzas or 
.butcheries, is by the erection of a n;achine, with 
a pulley and winch at the extremity of the 
inclosure ; a bullock's horns are entangled in 
a rope which draws him on, and thrusts the 
head through an opening in the paling, where 
a man stands ready with a stout dagger, with 
which he stabs the beast between the horns* 
In the pith of the neck, so that its death is 
almost instantaneous. 

By the same method with which they catch the 
cattle, their catchrope and noose, they catch the 
horses, both those that run wild, and the others. 
It is very seldom that they miss their aim, though 
on full speed; and a man, however cautious, can 
no more avoid being taken in their snare than the 
animals they hunt; for it is one of the weapons, 
if that term may be given it, which they use in 
their private quarrels. The straggling robbers, 
who sometimes infest the roads remote from the 



Carriages. 417 

tovvns, also use the noose. In an open country, 
the only resource for safety, in such a case, is to 
throw oneself on the ground, keeping the legs and 
arms as close to the surface as possible, that the 
rope may have no room to get under any part. 
Amongst trees or underwood the noose is not dan- 
gerous; and if, by a rapid advance to the robber, 
the distance can be reduced to ten or fifteen yards, 
before he throws his noose, his dexterity may be 
ineffectual ; but at twenty or thirty yards distance, 
it is almost impossible to escape. The Indians 
themselves, however, when they apprehend an 
attack of this kind, carry a lance, with which 
they are equally dexterous in parrying it. The 
nooses are made of thongs of a bullock's hide, 
<mt round the skin, and of a proper breadth, 
these thongs are twisted, and rendered supple by 
grease; and are so strong, that, though when 
twisted they are not thicker than a little finger* 
yet they hold the wildest bull, when its efforts to 
escape would break a hempen rope of much larger 
dimensions. 

In yoking their cattle to their clumsy carretaas 
or waggons, they fasten the yoke, which is a 
heavy log of wood, to the horns, by which the 
animals pull ; from four to eight and ten bullocks 
are yoked in one team, which is guided by two men, 
with goads of curious contrivance; one is seated in 
the waggon, and with a hand-goad in one hand sti- 
mulates the hinder pair; with the other he guides 
a long wand, which is suspended from a pole pro- 

2 E 



4 1 8 U nsubdued I??diam. 

jecting from the roof of the carretaa, and armed 
with goads, so as to touch the second and third 
pair; whilst the other man, on horseback, guides 
the foremost pain* 

They have the following singular method of 
tempering clay for bricks: the clay is collected in 
a large circle, inclosed by stakes and leathern 
ropes. When they are ready to work it up, from 
twenty to thirty horses are driven within the 
bounds, and an Indian, mounting one, drives 
them about with a long leathern strap; whilst 
other men stand around, throwing water on the 
clay, continuing in this manner till they are not 
only fatigued, but entirely covered with mud. 
They burn the bricks with the bones and heads of 
bullocks, as a substitute for wood, which is a very 
scarce commodity in the neighbourhood of Buenos 
jAyres and Montevideo. 

The unsubdued Indians that surround the Spa- 
nish settlements, next claim attention. The de- 
tached information that has been obtained of the 
customs of the principal tribes, is necessarily im- 
perfect, from the state of almost perpetual hosti- 
lity in which they live with the Spaniards. 

The Guaranis and the Tapes, tribes who have 
similar manners and the same language, are now 
nearly all subjected, either to the Portuguese of 
Brazil, or to the Spaniards of Paraguay, between 

* The representation that is given of this contrivance in the plate 
will best explain it. 

g 



Glidranis and Tapes. 419 

. Which territories their country lies. They are go- 
verned by hereditary and independent caciques, 
who enjoy considerable privileges. They reckon 
their years by winters, but seldom go beyond ten 
Without committing a mistake. Eclipses, as 
amongst most untutored nations, are subjects of 
the greatest alarm to them. In giving names to 
their children, they accompany the ceremony with 
the following barbarous rite. They obtain for the 
purpose, a prisoner from some hostile tribe, who 
they treat with the best of fare for several days, 
giving even up to him the choice amongst their 
women. On the day appointed for the purpose* 
his throat is cut with great ceremony b and as soon 
as he is dead* the body is struck with a stick, and 
at every stroke a child receives a name; after this^ 
the body is divided amongst the families whose ^ 
children have thus been honoured, and separately 
cooked and eaten by them; When a girl arrives 
at the age of puberty * she is for several days em- 
ployed in the most laborious tasks, restricted irk 
her food, and never suffered to enjoy repose; by 
her manner of bearing this trial, they judge whe- 
ther she is laborious, and otherwise qualified to 
undertake the care of a family; they then deck 
her out with the ornaments of her sex, and de- 
clare her to be marriageable. They have their 
magicians and physicians* in whose abilities they 
place implicit reliance, and of whose incantations 
they stand in great dread. They are an intelli- 
gent, active, and not an unwarlike tribe, who fur- 

2H 



420 Caiguas. I tat hies, 

nished the greater part of the neophytes, who* 
under the Jesuits, have borne a conspicuous part 
in the history of the country. 

The Caiguas are a roving tribe that inhabit the 
inmost recesses of the forests beyond the Parana. 
They depend solely upon the chace, and if that 
resource fails them, are obliged to have recourse 
for food to worms, ants, snakes, and other reptiles, 
with which the forests abound. Their women 
scarcely yield in whiteness to the Spanish, w r hich 
is attributed to their constantly residing in the 
thickest parts of the forests. The men wear 
scarcely any clothing; the women have a kind of 
apron made of nettle-thread, which reaches from 
the waist to the knees. They are very wild, and, 
when taken prisoners, refuse nourishment, and foam 
and bite their chains, pining, at length, entirely away* 
Their language is said to be very harsh and disagree* 
able, being a kind of inarticulate sibillation. 

The Itatines, who inhabit the mountains that 
lie between the sources of the Parana and the Pa- 
raguay, speak the Guarani language, and appear 
to be of the same origin. They are very vigorous 
and nimble, and running is amongst their favourite 
diversions and most admired exercises; emulation 
in this practice is encouraged amongst them by 
foot-races and prizes. 

The Guytcurus are a numerous nation, inhabit- 
ing the upper part of the Paraguay. They form se- 
veral tribes, and carry their excursions to great di- 
stances. The men generally go quite naked* 



Guyaqurus. . 451 

hw% the women wear a covering from the waist 
to the knees. They paint their bodies with va- 
rious colours, according to their age and military 
rank. The boys are painted black till sixteen, 
when, after many ceremonies, and rude trials of 
fortitude, they are coloured red and admitted as 
soldiers. At twenty they go through a further 
ceremony, and a more painful test, after which 
they are considered as veterans. They are con- 
stantly on the watch, and scarcely use any diver- 
sion but that of shooting at a mark, in consequence 
of which they are excellent marksmen. They 
carry on a perpetual warfare against the Spaniards; 
and generally kill all the men that fall into their 
hands, but preserve the boys, whom they marry 
to their daughters, and sell the children born of 
these marriages to their neighbours. They are 
extremely well mounted, and have numerous in- 
accessible retreats, to which, when worsted, they 
repair with wonderful celerity. They particularly 
celebrate the return of thepleiades to the horizon, 
which is a general holiday observed by tjie whole 
nation, and terminates like al.} their festivities, in 
the most brutal intoxication. The death of a ca- 
cique, or other person of distinction, is mourned 
by a general continence and abstinence from fish, 
which is their greatest delicacy, for a longer or 
a shorter time, in proportion to the rank of the 
deceased, or the respect in which he was held. v A 
number of the relations of the deceased, or other 
voluntary victims, offer themselves as sacrifices to 



-422 Indians of Chaco. 

accompany him to the world of spirits ; and the 
most precious ornaments they possess are buried 
with the body. Polygamy is not in use amongst 
them, but the bands of matrimony are very slight, 
and dissolved without ceremony. The condition 
of the women is very hard ; they are the slaves of 
the men, who shew no other kind of regard to 
them than that of presenting them with the scalps 
of the enemies, whom they have slain, on their 
return from an excursion. These scalps the women 
fasten to a post, round which, they dance, singing 
the praises of the victors. 

A number of independent tribes, under various 
names, rove over the plains of Chaco; who are all, 
more or less, at enmity with the Spaniards. They 
are, in general, of an advantageous stature, and 
men of seven feet in height are not uncommon. 
They carouse immoderately with their chica, and 
generally terminate their revels by sanguinary 
quarrels. The women endeavour to obviate 
this, by carrying away all the arms they can 
get hold of, as soon as they perceive that the 
liquor is taking effect on the men, A trifle occa- 
sions hostility between these tribes, but their un- 
conquerable inveteracy against the Spaniards soon 
unites them, on the first alarm from that quarter. 
They have no other occupation but war and pillage, 
and have rendered themselves very formidable to the 
Spaniards. Their arms are bows, and arrows, and 
a well wrought lance or javelin, made of a very 
heavy wood, with a barbed point, made of a 



Chiriguanos. 423 

deer's horn. This weapon they use with great 
strength and dexterity, and by means of a rope, 
to which it is fastened, they will draw in the man 
it has wounded, unless he has resolution enough 
to pull it out. They scalp their fallen enemies, 
and display these memorials of victory at all their 
entertainments. They are such bold and able 
horsemen, that the Spaniards dearly repent having 
stocked this country so well with horses. However 
swift these animals are, the Indians of Chaco stop 
them in full speed, and vault upon them, indiffer- 
ently either sideways or from behind, without any 
assistance but that of their javelins, upon which 
they spring. They then, without saddle or 
bridle, or in fact without any thing but a halter, 
keep their seat, govern the animal with complete 
controul, and urge him to such speed, as to leave 
the best-mounted Spaniards far behind. The 
women of Chaco prick their faces, breasts, and 
arms. They are very robust, bring forth with 
great ease, and, as soon as delivered, bathe them- 
selves and their children in the next lake or river. 
The dead are buried on the spot where they expire ; 
a javelin is planted over the grave, to which the 
skull of an enemy, especially of a Spaniard, if it 
can begot, is fastened; the survivors remove from 
the place, and avoid passing by it till the deceased 
is entirely forgotten. 

The Chiriguanos are a nation scattered over se- 
veral districts of the provinces of Santa Cruz de 
la Sierra 5 Los Charcas, and Chaco; and are most 

2 E 4g 



424- Abipones, 

inveterate enemies of the Spaniards;. They appear 
to have originally come from Paraguay and the 
confines of Brazil. A Portuguese adventurer led 
a numerous body of them to the attack of the rich 
provinces of Peru, and carried desolation and 
slaughter wherever he went ; he was, however, in 
the end, slain by his Indian allies, who settled 
themselves in various parts of the mountainous 
country. They have traditions of an ancient 
origin, of which they are so vain, that they de- 
spise the Spaniards, as a nation of upstarts. They 
live in a state of military democracy, and their 
enemies allow them to be valiant, frugal, and 
hardy. In Tarija, however, a body of the Chi- 
riguanos have submitted to the Spanish domi- 
nion, and hopes have latterly been entertained that 
they will be induced to enter into treaties, by 
which the tranquillity of the provinces bordering 
upon them may be secured. 

The Abipones inhabit the north-eastern parts 
of Paraguay. They are, in general, above the 
middle stature, and of a robust constitution. In 
summer they go quite naked, but in winter cover 
themselves with skins. They carry a quiver slung 
across their shoulders, and never go without a 
bow in the right hand, and a javelin, or a very 
long arrow, in the left. They paint themselves 
all over of different colours. They make holes hi 
their lips and nostrils and several parts of their 
skins, to stick ostrich^feathers in them. They era- 
dicate the beard at its first appearance, and like* 



* 



Abipones. 495 

wise the hair of the forehead, so as to appear bald* 
whence the Spaniards give them the name of 
callegas. To have a right to wear his hair amongst 
them, a man must have killed an enemy; and to 
attain to military honours, and acquire any repu- 
tation for courage, he must have passed thrc-.gh 
trials similar to those of the Guyacurus. The 
Abipones accustom themselves, from their infancy, 
to the greatest insensibility, by inflicting the 
sharpest pains on themselves, so that at last they 
bring themselves to laugh under the severest tor- 
tures. The women, who are scarcely browner 
than the Spanish, are covered from the waist to 
the knees, and pricked or tattooed all over the 
rest of the body, but especially the face and the 
bosom. All that often can be seen of their skins 
is a kind of mosaic work, of different colours, 
sunk into the skin, and all of them shave the back 
part of the head. At the death of a cacique, the 
whole nation change names, and eat no fish for a 
month. They seldom rear but one child of 
pmh sex, murdering the others as soon as born, 
alleging, that as they are almost constantly travel- 
ling from one place to another, it is impossible for 
them to take care of more than two infants at a 
time, one to be carried by the father and the other 
by the mother. Polygamy is sometimes, but very 
rarely, practised amongst them. They are very 
cleanly, and use frequent ablutions. They are 
not anthropophagous, but are uncommonly vora- 
cious. They bury their dead under the shade of 



426 



Mataranes, 



a tree ; and when a chief or warrior dies r they 
kill his horses on his grave. Some time after- 
wards they dig up his remains, and convey them 
to a distant and more secret place. Their opinion 
of another life is evident by the care which they 
take, on interring their dead, to bury provisions, 
and bows and arrows with them, that they may 
procure themselves a subsistence in the other 
world, and that hunger may not compel them to 
return to this, to torment the living. 

The Mataranes are a neighbouring tribe, that 
have at times been subjected to the Spaniards. A 
singular custom prevails amongst them. They 
celebrate the anniversary of the death, of a kins- 
man, by an invitation to all the friends and rela- 
tions of the deceased, and every one of the guests 
is obliged to bring with him a dead ostrich. If it 
happen to be the anniversary of more persons than 
one, the guests must bring each as many ostriches 
as there are deaths to commemorate, because, in 
a kind of funeral procession* made on these occa- 
sions, and attended with extraordinary ceremonies* 
each of the deceased must be represented by his 
own ostrich. The guests likewise make a present 
to the entertainer, who, by accepting it, lays him- 
self under the obligation of returning the compli- 
ment in kind when he should be invited by them; 
this engagement even descends to his heirs, and 
to fail in it, is esteemed a just cause of warfare 
between the different villages to which the parties 
belong. These solemnities last for four clays, at 



Chiquitos. 427 

the end of which the company bewail the deceased 
for the space of an hour. Their tears are suc- 
ceeded by immoderate laughter, by dancing and 
feasting", and the ceremony concludes by complete 
intoxication and the most disorderly orgies. 

Under the name of Chiquitos are comprehended 
several small nations scattered over a tract of land, 
that is bounded to the south by the plains of 
Chaco, and by a chain of mountains to the north, 
and is by the Spaniards reckoned as part of the 
province of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. It abounds 
in rivers and lakes, and from September till May 
is drenched with rain, and mostly overflowed. As 
soon as the waters retire, the inhabitants sow 
maize and rice, and plant sugarcanes, tobacco, 
and cotton, but know nothing either of the vine 
or of wheat. The great heat and excessive humid- 
ity, together with the inconstancy of the wea- 
ther, cause many and dangerous diseases. The 
inhabitants are particularly subject to apoplexy, 
and are annually visited by a kind of plague. 
The frequent fatal issue of these disorders, how- 
ever, has not so much been attributed to their 
malignity, as to the ignorance of the physicians, 
whose whole art is confined to two methods of 
cure. The first is by sucking the part affected ; 
and the other by putting a woman to death, the 
Chiquitos imagining that all evil proceeds from 
that sex. H Such husbands, therefore, as wish to 
get rid of their wives, find it an easy matter to 
induce the physicians to pronounce sentence upon 



428 Chiquitos* 

them, from which there is no appeal, as the ca- 
cique is himself the physician and the executor of 
his own decrees. The Chiquitos are, in general, 
above the middle size,* strong and sturdy, and 
are stated to be endowed with more penetration 
and judgment, and to be less addicted to the vices 
of laziness and deceit, than the surrounding tribes. 
Their agriculture is more extensive than that of any 
other nation around them, and they seem rather 
inclined to useful labour, than to listless indolence. 
Drunkenness, however, is their ruling passion, 
and they contract the habit of it from infan- 
cy. They differ but little from the Spaniards 
in feature, and are only of a darker complection. 
Long hair is reckoned a great ornament amongst 
them* but they have very scanty beards, which 
appear late. Both men and women wear a kind 
of cotton shirt, but many of the young people go 
quite naked. They are nimble, courageous, and 
dexterous in the management of their arms, which 
are the same with those of the other nations of 
Paraguay. They have no kind of regular govern- 
ment, yet generally conduct themselves by the 
advice of their old men. The dignity of the ca- 
cique, though bestowed upon the bravest warrior, 
has very" little authority annexed to it. They gene- 
rally treat their prisoners well, adopt them, and give 
them their daughters in marriage. The caciques 
aloae have the privilege of having two wives ; but 



See note, page 208. 



Chiquitos. 499 

the rest may divorce their's when they please and 
take others. A young man, however, finds it dif- 
ficult to get a wife till he has given proofs of his 
bravery in war, or of his skill in hunting. They 
generally build their villages in woods, and the 
huts that compose them consist of nothing but 
straw. Their festivals last two or three days. 
They are begun by conjuring the demons not to 
disturb the joy of them, and their prayers are ac- 
companied by great shouts, and by striking the 
earth with staves. The entertainment consists 
almost entirely of drinking chica, which soon in- 
toxicates them, and it generally ends in a riot, in 
which wounds, and often death, are inflicted. The 
guests, however, never fail to thank the person 
who invites them, and whatever has occurred dur- 
ing the influence of the liquor is consigned to 
oblivion. The chief traces of religion to be found 
amongst them, are their fear of demons, who* they 
say, appear to them under hideous forms; and 
their belief in the immortality of the soul, in con- 
sequence of which they inter provisions and arms 
with their dead. Eclipses are subjects of terror 
to them, and whilst they last they shoot their ar- 
rows into the air. Thunder and lightning they 
believe is occasioned by the departed' souls quar- 
relling with the stars, amongst which they are 
supposed to have taken up their residence. Their 
language is difficult to learn; and every district, 
and sometimes every village, has its particular 
idiom. 



430 



The Moxos are a numerous nation to thg 
north-westward, much resembling the Chiqui* 
tos, in appearance, in character, and in cus* 
toms. They do not* however, till the ground, 
but subsist principally by hunting and fishing. 
They poison their arrows; and make girdles 
ornamented with the teeth of the enemies they 
have killed, and of the wild beasts they have 
destroyed.. A barbarous custom prevails amongst 
them, that young children are always buried 
with the mother when she happens to die, as no 
other woman will take charge of them ; so also, 
when twins are born, one is destroyed, They 
sell the prisoners they take in battle for slaves, 
and the Spaniards, when not at war with 
them, purchase many of their captives for the 
mines. They are, more than other nations of 
this continent, jealous of the honour of their 
wives, and adultery is sometimes punished by 
death. They worship an invisible tiger ; and 
their priests are not raised to that honour, till 
they have escaped from the attack of a ter- 
restrial one ; they are then revered as persons 
-singularly favoured by the invisible tiger, in 
having been protected by him from the visi- 
ble one, with which they have fought. A long 
and rigourous fast, however, is further neces- 
sary, and abstinence for a considerable time 
from all flesh or fish. After this the juice of 
certain herbs of a very sharp and corrosive 
nature is squeezed into their eyes, which puts 



Manoa tribes* 



4:31 



them to great pain, but they pretend that it 
sharpens the sight, whence the priests are called 
Tikarogut, signifying in their language, more 
clear-sighted. 

The Manoa tribes next commence, and extend 
from the borders of the Moxos to the Mara* 
gnon and Oronoco rivers. They live dispersed in 
the forests in small tribes, each under the di- 
rection of one or two caciques. They are 
usually tall, robust, and well made, it being 
an invariable custom, that whenever a male 
child is born, with distorted limbs or any re- 
markable defect, it is instantly deprived of life* 
Their complection is fairer than that of the Pe- 
ruvians. They flatten the forehead and the 
hind part of the head, by boards bound to the 
heads of the infants. Some of them go naked, 
but others wear cotton shirts, and the married 
women all wear a short petticoat: the un- 
married females, however, are -all in a state of 
nudity. They wear a variety of pendant trinkets 
of gold and silver in their ears, nostrils, and 
lips, and adorn the anus and neck with strings 
of human, or other teeth. The women are par- 
ticularly careful of the hair. Both males and 
females stain the teeth and lips black, and 
paint the body with various colours. With the 
exception of the caciques, who, hi some instances, 
have two wives, they are not polygamists ; and 
marriages are generally agreed upon between- the 
parents, whilst their children are quite young ; 



439 



Manoa tribes. 



the intended couple being brought up together 1 
from their infancy* and cohabiting when they 
attain the age of puberty. These bonds are 
not indissoluble, and they are mutually at li- 
berty to quit each other when caprice dictates, 
or the love of variety incites. Of their reli- 
gious sentiments, an interesting account is given. 
They believe in one God, on whom they bestow 
the human figure, and who they consider as the an* 
thor of the earth, and likewise of the heavens, whi- 
ther, they say, he retired after having completed the 
creation of the former. They name him father 
and grandsire, but neither erect altars or temples, 
or pay him any homage. They address him, 
however, at tl)£ time of an earthquake. They 
think that this phenomenon arises from his quit- 
ting the sky to pass the living mortals in review, 
and to infer from the noise they make, the num- 
ber that exist. Impressed with this belief, and 
persuaded that at each of his steps, the earth 
trembles, they ail quit their huts simultaneously, 
running, leaping, stamping, and exclaiming Here 
we are! Here we are! They likewise admit an 
evil being, inhabiting the centre of the earth, who 
they consider as the author of all their misfor- 
tunes, and at whose name they tremble. The 
most shrewd amongst them take advantage of this 
belief to obtain respect, and represent themselves 
as his delegates. Under the denomination of 
Mohanes or Agoreros, these men are consulted on 
all occasions: they preside over the intrigues of 



Maiioa tribes. 



433 



love, the health of the community, and the opera- 
tions of war, They frequently, however, pay 
dearly for the failure of their prognostics, and 
must betake themselves to flight for safety, if 
their patient die, or the arms of their tribe suffer 
defeat. Under the name of piripiri, they have 
recourse to various charms, composed from the 
vegetable kingdom* for success in amorous pur- 
suits** for relief in sickness* for revenge of in- 
juries, and for the gratification of other passions, 
or the supply of other wants. They all believe in 
a future existence, but in various ways ; and 
some, it is asserted* adopt the doctrine of transmi- 
gration ; their caciques* warriors* and faithful 
wives, pass into the bodies of animals they most 
esteem* such as the tiger and the monkey ; and 
the surviving relations pay adoration to that ani- 
mal, into which the soul of the deceased is sup- 
posed to be fled. At their burials they destroy 
whatever the deceased has left behind him, and 
burn his dwelling. One tribe disinter their dead* 
as soon as they think that the fleshy parts are 
consumed ; and having washed the bones, carry 
the skeleton home, where they retain it for about 
a year* after which the bones are again buried, 
and the individual to whom they belonged is for- 
gotten for ever. They find some difficulty in 

* One of these compositions received into the stomach, is said 
to have a peculiar effect on females ; Una de elks* tragada, se cree 
dhminuir el volumen de ciertas partes del seio feminino, y mejorar m 
conformation* 

2F 



434 



Manoa tribes, 



subsisting without implements of husbandry* 
which is not owing to any deficiency of animal 
food, or to any infertility of the soil, for fruits, 
birds, quadrupeds, and fishes, are found in abund- 
ance, but they cannot dispense with certain 
roots which require culture ; one of the principal 
is the yuca, with which they make the liquor 
which is their only comfort and their principal 
beverage. They seldom taste water, which, in 
consequence of the heat and of the innumerable 
morasses* is of a noxious quality * To cultivate 
the yuca, they clear a small portion of the forest 
with stone hatchets, wrought with much patience ? 
and having burnt the wood that is felled, they 
turn up the earth with a Stick shaped like a sword. 
They also cultivate cotton for the manufacture of 
their garments. Their principal occupations, 
however, are hunting, fishing* and warfare; and 
in these pursuits they employ tubes, spears, clubs* 
poniards, darts, and arrows, made of the .hardest 
woods, and With the points imbued with the most 
active poisons derived from the vegetable king* 
dom. For fishing, they usually make use of 
tubes and arrows,' and in hunting, darts and 
spears* with which they are not afraid to en- 
counter the tiger.* In war, they likewise use 

* A mode of hunting the tiger, ii> use amongst some of the In* 
diansj which is described by Charlevoix, requires no small degree of 
dexterity and presence of mind. The huntsman taking a long stick 
and holding it with both hands presents it in a horizontal direction 
to the animal, who never fails to seize it in his mouth. • Whilst the 



Manoa tribes* 



AS5 



bucklers of interwoven reeds lined with skins. 
Their towns are fortified with some art. They 
are usually built against the side of a hill, with 
two gateways, one towards the plain, the other 
opposite to it* The whole is in the form of a half 
moon, with the convex part turned towards the 
forest. When they are assailed at one of the 
gates, whilst a part endeavour to maintain that 
post, the remainder gain the forest by the other 
outlet, and dividing themselves into two wings, 
defend the place advantageously by attacking the 
assailants in the flanks. Deep pits are also dug 
in the centre of the towns, and in other parts, over- 
laid with brambles and palm-leaves, to stop the 
progress of pursuit and entangle the enemy. 
Those who attack, however, are generally the 
conquerors ; but even if repelled, the village is 
always destroyed, and the inhabitants remove to 
another spot. The heads of their enemies are 
brought home in triumph ; they strip the skins 
from them, stuff them with straw, and dry them 
in the smoke, thus forming masks of 'them, which 
are brought out and insulted at their rejoicings. 
The teeth they extract for their collars, and the 
skulls they suspend as trophies from the roofs of 
their dwellings. The captives they make are 

creature is endeavouring to wrest it or break it with his teeth and 
claws, the huntsman, by alternate jerks to the right and left, throws 
him down, and before he can recover himself, instantly plunges a 
poniard into his belly, and rips him up to the throat. 

9 F 2 



436 



Moluches and 



treated with great humanity, and adopted amongst 
them. 

Along the frontiers of Tucuman and Chili, 
there are several tribes of unsubdued Indians, who 
bear amongst themselves the denominations of 
Moluches and Puelches. The former of these are 
distinguished by the Spaniards as Aucaes, and 
Araucanos. Aucaes is a nickname, or term of 
reproach, meaning rebels, savages, or banditti. 
Arauco is a district to the west of the Cordillera, 
the inhabitants of which have, with invariable 
success, resisted the Spanish arms, whence their 
name has been improperly extended to all the un- 
subdued Indians of the Chilian frontier. The 
Araucanos proper are governed by caciques, but 
the only subordination known amongst them is 
with regard to age, so that the oldest person of 
the tribe is respected as its governor. In military 
affairs, however, the chief command is, of course, 
given to the most courageous leader, subjected to 
the advice of the old men. Their wars against the 
Spaniards usually continue for some years; some 
intervals of peace occur, and the efforts of the 
missionaries have of late somewhat tended to re- 
press their determined hostility. In the midst of 
their sanguinary rage against the Spaniards, they 
always spare the white women, who they carry off, 
and use them as their own. The convents for 
women in the Spanish towns, which they have 
From time to time destroyed, have supplied them 
witl) many wives, and they have been known to 



Vuelches. 



437 



attack a place, for no other motive than to carry 
off the nuns from some numerous community of 
religious devotees. Hence these Indians are re- 
markably white, and display a colour in the cheeks, 
the effect of the mixture of their descent. In 
time of peace many of them resort to the Spanish 
settlements, hiring themselves for a certain time 
to the planters, and return home at the expiration 
of that time, laying out their wages in the pur- 
chase of such goods as are valued in their country. 
All of them, both men and women, wear the 
poncho, but those who live to the south of Bal- 
divia, and the Chonos, who live opposite the 
islands of Chiloe, generally go naked. All these 
Indians delight in riding, have excellent horses, 
and train them to war as well as to the chace. 

Moluches signifies warriors, and the Indians 
who call themselves by that name may be divided 
into the different tribes of the Picunches, Pe- 
huenches, and Huilliches. The Picunches are 
the most northern, and are so called from picnn^ 
which, in their language, signifies north, and che, 
men or people. The Pehuenches derive their 
name from pehuen^ a pine-tree, because their coun- 
try abounds in pines. These two nations were 
formerly very numerous; but are now scarcely 
able to muster four thousand fighting men. Wars, 
and the ravages of the small-pox, have tended 
to the reduction of their numbers, but the great- 
est havock has been occasioned by the brandy, 
which they buy of the Spaniards, and the chiea* 

2 F3 



43 S 



Tehuelhets or 



which they make themselves, The Huilliches, or 
southern Moluches, reach from the latitude of 
Baldivia to the Straits of Magellan, and are di- 
vided into four different tribes, amongst which 
there is one called Vuta Huilliches, from their 
being of a large size, and advantageous stature, 
vuta denoting strength. 

The Puelches, or Eastern people, so called by 
those of Chili, from their situation to the east- 
ward, border, to the north, on the Spanish pro-? 
vinces of Cuyo, Tucuman, and Buenos Ayres t 
and reach from the territories of the Moluches on 
one side, to the Atlantic on the other. They 
bear different denominations amongst themselves. 
Those to the north are called Taluhets; to the 
west and south of these are the Diuihets ; to the 
south-east the Chechehets; and to the south of 
these last are the Tehuelhets. The two first-men- 
tioned tribes are known to the Spaniards by the 
name of Pampas. They are of a roving dispose 
tion, and repeatedly attack and hamss the Span- 
ish settlements, as well as the travellers who pass 
from Chili to Buenos Ayres, over the plains they 
inhabit. They hunt both the wild horses and the 
horned cattle for food ; ana 1 are in general a talj 
and stout race of men. 

The Tehuelhets are the nation that is known in 
Europe by the appellation of Patagons; and are 
split into many subdivisions. A principal tribe 
have a town called Huechin, on the banks of 
the Cusu Leuevu, or Rio Negi'o, the caciques of 




TublLsheA IpS. D . SymentLsJaternvsterBow. Oct"aSaSoff. 



Patagonians. 439 

which have great influence, if not commensurate 
authority, over almost all the Chechehets and Te- 
huelhets, and who, when they declare war, are 
also joined by the Huilliches, and by those Pehu- 
enches who live most to the south. The Tehu- 
elhets are a restless and roving people, whom 
neither extreme old age, nor blindness or disease, 
prevent from indulging in their wandering incli- 
nations. They are very strong, well made, and 
not so tawny as the other Indians. They are 
courteous, obliging, and good-natured, but very 
inconstant. They are warlike and intrepid, and 
the most numerous of all the Indian nations in 
these parts. They are the enemies of the Mo- 
luches, and very much feared by them. They 
speak a different language from the other Puelches 
and the Moluches. As to their stature, they are 
a large race, and several of them are seven feet 
and a half in height, but these, it is asserted, 
are not a distinct race, but only individuals, as 
others in the same family do not exceed six 
feet. 

We can not. without a charge of unreasonable 
scepticism, deny all credence to the accounts that 
have been transmitted to us, of a race of men of 
extraordinary stature in this portion of the globe; 
and although it is a judicious observation that, as 
animals attain the highest perfection of their spe- 
cies principally in mild climates, or where the 
most nutritive food is found in the greatest abund- 
ance, we ought not to expect to find, in the un- 

2 r 4 



440 'Patagonians. 

cultivated wastes of the Magellanic regions, and 
amongst improvident savages, that man should be 
distinguished by a superiority of size and vigour 
far beyond what he has reached in any other part 
of the earth; yet inscrutable as are the ways of 
Providence, and limited as is the progress hitherto 
made in the natural philosophy of the globe we 
inhabit, no bounds can be assigned to the endless 
variety of phenomena which successively appear 
or are discovered. The man who can assign a 
reason why an Irish giant, or a Polish dwarf, 
should be born amidst nations of ordinary stature, 
will have solved every problem, as to the existence 
either of gigantic Patagonians or of pigmy Es- 
quimaux. Undoubtedly, however, the most ex- 
plicit and unexceptionable evidence is requisite, 
in order to establish a fact repugnant to those ge- 
neral principles and laws which seem to affect the 
human frame in every other instance. Such evi- 
dence, as far as relates to the existence of giants 
of from nine to sixteen feet in height, according- 
to the diversity of relations that have been given 
of interviews with such men, or conclusions 
formed from the measurement of footsteps or dis- 
covery of skeletons, has not, however, been pro- 
duced, as these accounts vary from each other in 
so many essential points, and are mingled with so 
many circumstances manifestly false or fabulous, 
that much is thereby detracted from their credit. 
But by an impartial revision of the various autho- 
rities, it appears, as an established fact, that the 



Patagonians. 441 

usual stature of one or more tribes of Indians is 
from six and a half to seven and a half feet; and 
if we allow for the wonder with which men of so 
advantageous a size would necessarily be viewed 
by seamen and adventurers, naturally fond of the 
marvellous, and prone to exaggeration, as well as 
to the circumstance that is only by estimation, and 
not by measurement, often at a distance, and 
always uncertain, that the height is stated, no very 
serious difficulty will be found in reconciling the 
various relations to each other. It will, in fact, 
have appeared, in the course of this work, that a 
majority of the Indian nations of South America 
are of a large size, and extraordinary stature, in- 
creasing in bulk and height towards the south; 
and the Tehuelhets, none of whom are under six 
feet, and some approaching to eight, a wandering 
nation, inhabiting an extensive country, and 
well provided with horses, may be looked on as 
the Patagonians of the Straits of Magellan, inci- 
dental visitors, but not permanent inhabitants, of 
the shores both to the south and to the east. The 
comparative safety and facility of the passage 
round Cape Horn, has prevented any recent navi- 
gation of the Straits, and the accounts of the 
early navigators must stand or fall by their own 
intrinsic merits, till the interior of the country is 
more fully explored, or till some object of com- 
mercial attraction, or of political importance, 
arises to induce navigators to frequent the Straits 
of Magellan again. In the meantime the inter- 



442 Patagoutans, 

mediate system, to which a preference has been 
given afcoye, acquires confirmation from the most 
recent visit to those regions of which any account 
has been made public, namely, that of a Spanish 
vessel, dispatched by the court of Spain, to survey 
the Straits in 1785 and 1786.* 
* At their first interview with the Patagonians, 
one of them, who called himself Francisco Xavier, 
w r ho had had intercourse with the Spanish colonists 
of Rio de la Plata, and spoke a little Spanish, was 
measured, and found to be six feet and eleven and 
a half inches in height. The tribe they then met 
\vith appeared to consist of between four and five 
hundred men and children, for they saw no women. 
They were all on horseback; and had many dogs. 
The indifference with which they left their horses, 
their arms, and little effects, unguarded, or in 
the care of each other, was considered as a proof 
of the good faith that existed amongst themselves; 
and though it was evident that their communication 
with the Spanish settlements was neither difficult 
nor unfrequent, they did not seem to have ac- 
quired the bad habits which an intercourse with 
European colonists too often gives rise to amongst 
savages. Xavier had a poncho, which was conjec- 
tured to be of Spanish manufacture, with the addi- 
tion of a cloak of guanaco-skins, sewn together, and 
exactly similar to those that are brought for sale 

* Relacion del ultimo vioge al edrecho de Magallancs de la f regatta 
de S. M. Sania Maria de la Cabezn, Madrid, 1783. 



Fcctagonians. 443 

by the Indians to Buenos Ay res. Ke had also a 
cutlass or macheat, inscribed in Spanish por el 
rey Carlos IIL Several pf the others had the 
noose, or lace and balls,* weapons well known in 
that province. They are described as extremejy 
friendly and familiar, eating, drinking, and 
smoking tobacco, with their visitors with the 
greatest cordiality. 

They met with another body of Patagonians, 
all also mounted on horses, and followed by many 
dogs, and amongst whom there were several wo- 
men; but they also met, towards the centre of the 
Straits, and particularly at Port Famine, with those 
miserable, shivering, and naked savages, who have 
been described by the name of Pecherais, from a 
word in their language which they are constantly re- 
peating, and who do not at all exceed the usual sta- 
ture of man. The moral and physical differences be- 
tween these two races of men is striking, but need 
not here form any particular object of comparison, 
the Pecherais being far distant from the province 

* The catch-rope or noose has before been described ; the balls, 
which are of heavy stone, are connected by a leathern thong of suit- 
able length, they are three in number, two of them three inches, and 
the other, two inches in diameter. The hunter takes the small ball 
in his right hand, and swings the other two round his head till he 
fcas taken a proper aim, and they have acquired sufficient velocity, 
he then throws them at the legs of the animal he is pursuing, two 
of which they immediately entangle by their rotatory motion, and 
bind them close together, after which the capture is easy; but the 
danger of laming the animal is great, and they are seldom therefore 
used to catch horses. 



4- 4: 4- Moluches and 

of Buenos Ayres, whilst, on the other hand, the 
Patagonians, from their migratory disposition, 
and abundance of horses, are occasional visitors 
of the vicinity of Buenos Ayres, of the Chilian 
frontier, and of the Straits of Magellan. 

From the actual and exact measurement of the 
Spanish officers of the above-mentioned expedi- 
tion, the tallest of the Patagonians they met 
with did not exceed seven feet and one inch and a 
quarter, but their general height was from six and 
a half to seven feet. All of them were robust and 
muscular; of no disagreeable countenance, although 
their heads were rather large in proportion, their 
eyes were lively, and they had teeth extremely 
white. A few of them were observed to have 
beards, but they were neither large nor busby. 
Upon the whole, the appearance, dress, and cha- 
racter of these Patagonians is described as very 
similar to the Tehuelhets of the Rio Negro; so 
much so as to leave no doubt of their being the 
same people.* 

The Moluches, as well as all the Puelches, believe 
in two superior principles, the one good and the 

* A passage occurs in the Spanish narrative of this voj^age, 
which indicates the establishment of some new settlements by the 
Spaniards in the southern part of the continent, with which we 
are wholly unacquainted. From various circumstances, a constant 
intercourse was thought to exist between these Indians and the Spa- 
nish colonies of Buenos Ayres and Chili ; and more particularly with 
those lattly formed on the coast 'of Patagonia. A correct knowledge 
of these will probably soon be acquired, in consequence of our 
possession of Buenos Ayres, 



Pue Iches* 



U5 



other evil* The good power is called by the Mo- 
laches Toquichen, or governor of men; by the 
Taluhets and Diuihets, Soychu, signifying the 
being who presides in the land of strong drink; 
and the Tehuelhets call him Guai/ava-<cmmee, or 
the lord of the dead. But this power or principle 
is subdivided into a multiplicity of deities, each 
of whom is supposed to preside over one parti- 
cular caste or family of Indians, of whom he is 
supposed to have been the creator. They imagine 
that each of them has a separate habitation, in 
yast caverns under the earth, beneath some lake, 
hill or forest, and that when an Indian dies, his 
soul goes to live with the deity of his particular 
family, there to enjoy the happiness of being 
eternally drunk. They believe that their good 
deities made the world, and that they first created 
the Indians in their caves, gave them the lance, 
the bow and arrows, to fight and hunt with, and 
then turned them out to shift for themselves. 
They imagine that the deities of the Spaniards did 
the same by them, but that instead of lances, 
bows, &c. they gave them guns and swords. 
They suppose that when the beasts, birds, and 
lesser animals were created, those of the more 
nimble kind came immediately out of their caves, 
but that the bulls and cows being the last, the 
Indians were so frightened at the sight of their 
horns, that they stopped up the entrance of their 
caves with great stones ; which is the reason they 
assign why they had no horned cattle in their 



V 



44f> Moluches and 

country till the Spaniards brought them over* 
who, more Wisely, had let them out of the 
caves. 

From the evil principle it is, they say, that the 
great number of demons, which they suppose are 
constantly wandering about the earth, proceed. 
To these they attribute every evil that befals either 
man or beast. Each of their wizards is supposed 
to have two of these demons in constant attend- 
ance, who enable them to foretel future events, to 
discover what is passing at a great distance, and 
to cure the sick by combating or appeasing the 
other demons who torment them. They believe 
that the souls of their wizards after death become 
demons. Their worship is entirely directed to the 
evil being, except in some particular ceremonies 
made use of in reverence to the dead. 

The profession of their wizards is very dan* 
gerous, notwithstanding the respect that is some* 
times paid to them: for it often happens, w r hen an 
Indian chief dies, that some of the wizards are 
killed, especially if they had any dispute with 
the deceased just before" his death. In cases also 
of epidemic disorders, when great numbers are 
carried off, the wizards often suffer. On account 
of the small-pox, which had almost- entirely de- 
stroyed the Chechehets, the cacique Cangapol 
ordered all the wizards to be put to death, to try 
if by that means the distemper, which was attri- 
buted to the wizards and their demons, would 
cease. The wizards are of both sexes, but all go 



P 'melt-he Si 



dressed in female apparel. They are generally 
chosen to this office when they are children, 
and a preference is always shewn to such as dis- 
cover an effeminate disposition* They are clothed 
very early in the dress of, and presented with the 
drum and rattles belonging to, the profession they 
are to follow. 

The burials of their dead, and the superstitious 
reverence paid to their memory, are attended with 
great ceremony* When an Indian dies, a woman 
is immediately chosen to make a skeleton of his 
body; the entrails and flesh are burned, and the 
bones are buried till the remaining flesh is wholly 
consumed, or till they are removed (which must 
be within a year after the interment, but is some- 
times within two months), to the proper burial- 
place of their ancestors. This custom is strictly 
observed by the Moluches, Taluhets, and Diuihets; 
but the Chechehets and Tehuelhets, or Patago- 
nians, place the bones on high, upon canes and 
twigs woven together, to dry and whiten in the 
sun and rain. During the time that the ceremony 
of making the skeleton lasts, some of the Indians, 
covered with long mantles of skins, and their faces 
blackened with soot, walk round the tent with long 
poles or lances, singing in a mournful tone of 
voice, and striking the ground to frighten away the 
demons; whilst others go to visit and console the wi* 
dow or widows and other relations of the deceased. 
The horses of the dead are also immediately killed, 
that they may have the means of riding in the 



44S 



MolucheS. 



Alhue Mapu, or country of the dead; a few only 
being reserved to grace the last funeral pomp, and 
to carry the relics to their proper sepulchres. 

Widows are obliged to mourn and fast for a 
whole year after the death of their husbands. This 
consists in keeping themselves close shut up in 
their tents, without having communication with 
any one, or stirring out but for the common ne- 
cessaries of life, in not washing their faces or 
hands; in being blackened with soot; and in 
abstaining from the flesh of horses, horned cattle, 
ostriches, and guanacoes. They are forbidden to 
marry again during the year of mourning; and if 
a widow be discovered to have had any connection 
with a man during that time, the relations of her 
dead husband may kill them both, unless it appears 
that she has been violated. But the men are not 
obliged to any such mourning on the death of their 
wives. 

The Moluches, Taluhets, and Diuihets, bury 
their dead in large square pits about a fathom dee]). 
The bones are put together, and each tied in its 
proper place; the skeleton is clothed in the best 
robes that can be got, and adorned with beads, 
feathers, &c. all of which they cleanse or change 
once a year. -They are placed in a row, sitting, 
with the sword, lance, bow and arrows, bowls, 
and whatever else the deceased had whilst alive. 
These pits are covered over with trunks of trees 
and canes or twigs woven together, upon which 
earth is put. An old woman is chosen out of each 



and Paelches. 



4t9 



petty community to take care of these graves* 
and is held in great veneration on account of her 
employment. Her office is to open these dreary 
habitations every year, and to clothe and clean 
the skeletons. These burial-places are> in general, 
' not far from their habitations, and around them 
are placed the bodies of their dead horses, raised 
upon their feet, and supported by stakes. But 
the Tehuelhets, after having dried the bones of 
their dead, carry them to a great distance from 
their habitations into the desert by the sea-coast. 
When they are removed, they are packed up 
together in a hide, and placed upon one of the 
favourite horses of the deceased, kept alive for 
that purpose, and adorned with mantles, feathers, 
&c. The distance to which these bones are thus 
carried is sometimes six or seven hundred miles. 
The skeletons, when put together and adorned in 
the manner iust described, are then set in order 
above ground, under a hut or tent erected for that 
purpose, with the skeletons of their dead horses 
placed around them. 

Their marriages are made by sale, the husband 
buying his wife of her nearest relations. They 
often agree for their wives, and pay part of the 
price of them, when they are very young, and 
many years before they are marriageable. Every 
Indian may have as many wives as he can buy or 
keep, yet few have more than one, except the 
caciques. Widows and orphans are at their own 
disposal, and may. accept of whom they please; 
2 G 



450 



Moluches 



the others are obliged to abide by the sale. Little 
or no ceremony is used in their marriages. The 
husband takes away his wife from her parents as 
his own property ; and the following morning she 
is visited by her relations before the time of rising, 
when being found in bed together, the marriage 
is considered as concluded. But as many of these 
marriages are compulsive on the side of the woman, 
they are frequently frustrated. The contumacy 
of the woman sometimes tires out the patience of 
the man, who tlieri turns her away, or sells her 
to the person on whom she has fixed her affections, 
but seldom beats her, or treats her ill. The 
women, when they have once accepted their hus- 
bands, are in general very faithful and laborious. 
Indeed their lives are but one continued scene of 
labour, and they are forced to submit to every 
species of drudgery. No excuse of sickness or 
pregnancy will relieve them from the appointed 
labour ; and so rigidly are they obliged to perform 
their duty, that their husbands cannot help them 
on any occasion, or in the greatest distress, with- 
out incurring the highest ignominy. Although 
their marriages are at will, yet, when once the 
parties are agreed, and have children, they sel- 
dom forsake each other, even in extreme old age. 
The husband protects his w r ife from all injuries, 
and always takes her part, even if she is in the 
wrong, which occasions frequent quarrels and 
bloodshed ; but this partiality docs not prevent 
him from reprimanding her in private for engaging 



and Pnelches. 



451 



him in these disputes. He seldom beats her; 
and if he catches her in any criminal intercourse, 
he lays all the blame on the gallant, whom he 
corrects with great severity, unless he atones for 
the injury by some valuable present. 

The Moluches maintain some flocks of sheep for 
their wool, and sow a small quantity of corn ; but 
the Puelches depend entirely on the chase, for 
which purpose they keep great numbers of dogs. 
The dress of these Indians is remarkable, and 
mostly alike. The men wear their hair tied up 
behind, and bound many times about the head 
with a long fillet of dyed woollen stuff curiously 
wrought. They wear mantles of skins sewed to- 
gether, sometimes of the skins of young colts, 
which are the least esteemed; sometimes of otter 
or other skins ; mostly, however, of guanaco- 
skins, which are in great estimation on account of 
the warmth and fineness of the wool, and their 
long duration ; but those which are in the highest 
esteem of all are made with the skins of small 
foxes, which are exceedingly soft and beautiful; 
they are of a mottled grey colour, but are not so 
durable as those of the guanaco. They also make 
or weave (theTahuelhets and Chechehets excepted) 
fine mantles of woollen yarn, beautifully dyed with 
many colours, which reach from the shoulders to 
the calf of the leg. They have another of the 
same kind round the waist, and, besides these, 
a small three-cornered leather apron. They like- 
wise make mantles of red stuffs which they buy 

2 g 2 



4i9 



Moluches 



of the Spaniards, of whom they also purchase 
hats, which they are fond of wearing, especially 
on horseback. They adorn themselves with sky- 
coloured beads round their necks and wrists. 
. They also paint their faces, sometimes red and 
sometimes black. When on horseback, they use 
the poncho, which they adorn with a great variety 
of hVures. Their defensive arms consist of a 
helmet, made like a broad-brimmed hat, of a bull's- 
hide sewed double, and of a wide tunic shaped 
and put on like a shirt, with narrow short sleeves, 
made of three or four folds of the .anta's skin : it 
is very heavy, and strong enough to resist either 
arrows or lances. On foot, they sometimes use 
a large unwieldy square target of bull's hides. 
Their offensive arms are a short bow, and arrows 
pointed with bone, and a lance four or five yards 
in length, pointed with iron, and made of a solid 
cane that grows near the Cordilleras, with many 
joints about four or five inches from one another. 
They have also swords when they can get them 
from the Spaniards ; but they are in general very 
scarce. The balls mentioned before* form a 
weapon which they manage with admirable dex- 
terity. They are generally made of the heaviest 
stones they can get, made round by friction. 
They are swung with unerring aim, and thrown 
with such dexterity as to fasten a man to his 
horse, and to entangle the feet of any animal. 

* See note page 443. The use of them is not peculiar to th$ 
southern Indian?, but prevails also amongst the Brazilians, 



and P-itelches. 



453 



The women wear nothing on the head, but have 
their long hair plaited in two large tresses, which 
hang down on each side. They have ear-rings or 
pendants of square brass plates, and strings of 
sky-blue beads round their necks, arms, and 
ancles. They have the same kind of mantle as 
the men, which they fasten before with a brass 
skewer or pin. They have also a short apron tied 
about the middle under the mantle, and reaches 
a little below the knee. This is woven of dyed 
yarn, and striped longitudinally with different 
colours. When they ride, they use a straw hat, 
of a broad, low, conical figure. Both sexes wear 
boots or stockings made of the skins of horses 
legs, which, when flayed, are dried, softened 
with grease, made pliant by wringing, and put 
on without either shaping or sewing. 



2 G 3 



CHAP, XL 



Natural History Domestic Animals Lama-^- 

Guanaco — Paco — Vic anna — Wild Beasts— Puma 
—Jaguar—Cougar — Yaguaru — Anta— Tapi — Pec* 
, €QtH- — Armadillos, §c. — Birds — Emu — Condor- 
Vulture, §c. — Fishes — Dorado — Packu, SfC — 

Amphibious Insects— Sustillo- — Bees — Snakes, 

$c. Vegetable Productions Timber-Trees—- 

Fruits — Paraguay Tea— -Coca— Bejucos, S>c. 

f J*HE natural history of the extensive regions 
under consideration in this work, would alone 
be sufficient to fill several volumes. In every 
department of that science, the variety and the 
abundance of objects that present themselves, are 
such as to excite astonishment and admiration. 
In natural history, South America is also fertile 
in prodigies ; and many of the most remarkable 
productions of nature are exclusively to be found 
in that portion of the new continent, Amidst this 
bewildering variety, it is necessary, therefore, to 
confine the descriptions in this chapter to such 
productions or animals as are of more 'peculiar 
interest. In addition to this, it may be observed, 
that the accounts we have of many of them, are 
rendered very defective, from the incomplete and 
unscientific manner in which they have been suc- 
cessively given to the world. PJence no attempt 



Domestic animals. 



455 



at scientific classification will be made, or other 
order observed, than the grand divisions of 
nature. 

It has been asserted, that not only the quadru- 
peds of the new world are inferior in size to those 
of the old continent, but that also those which 
have been transported thither from Europe have 
degenerated. The latter has not, however, any 
foundation in truth, as a general axiom ; for the 
horses and horned cattle of South America are 
neither less in size than, nor degraded in their 
respective qualities from, those of Europe whence 
they sprung. The horses are spirited, beautiful, 
and swift, never used, however, except t for the 
saddle, all carriages being drawn by oxen. Their 
walk is so quick, and their steps so long, that in 
walking they equal an European horse in trotting. 
Their step consists in raising exactly, and at the 
same instant, both the foi*e and the hind foot, 
and instead of placing the latter on the spot where 
the fore foot had rested, they carry it much far- 
ther, which nearty doubles the rapidity of their 
motion, and is much more easy for the rider. The 
horned cattle differ in nothing from those of Eu- 
rope. Their great numbers, both in a domestic 
and in a wild state, are a source of incalculable 
benefit to the country. Asses, mules, and Eu- 
ropean sheep, are likewise very numerous. 

Besides the horses and horned cattle, who have 
so amazingly multiplied in the plains of South 
America, great numbers of wild dogs are met 
2 g 4 



4o6 Wild dogs. 

with, who have descended from those of a domestic 
kind that have left their masters, in pursuit of 
the abundant provision of game to be met with 
here. They attack and kill numbers of the wild 
cattle ; they live under ground in holes, which 
may easily be discovered by the quantity of bones 
heaped around them. Their great numbers, and 
their ravages, occasioned one of the governors of 
Buenos Ayres to send out some soldiers to destroy 
them, who killed a great number; but these men 
being insulted on their return, and called mata- 
jierros, or dog-killers, the shame which thence 
attached to this species of hunting has prevented 
it from being renewed. 

Amongst the domestic animals must be reck- 
oned the Lama and the Paco, both natives of the 
mountainous parts of Peru, and inhabiting the 
higher districts of Tucuman, and the provinces 
of Los Charcas and Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Con- 
siderable confusion has been introduced in the 
nomenclature of these species of animals; and it 
is difficult to decide whether the lama, the gua- 
naco, the chilibueque, and the guemul ; the 
vicunna, the paco, and the alpaque ; are di- 
stinct species, varieties of the same spe- 
cies, or different names bestowed upon the 
same animal. It seems probable, however, 
that the opinion of Buffon, that there are in 
reality but two species, namely the guanaco and 
the vicunna, is well founded ; and that their dif- 
ferent habits and appearances, when in a wild 
or in a domestic state, have occasioned the several 




The Lama of South Am erica . 



Lama. 



457 



appellations above enumerated. There are exam- 
ples in every language of two different names 
being applied to the same animal, one of which 
has a relation to its wild, and the other to its 
domestic state. It is thus with respect to these 
animals ; the wild lama is calleli guanaco, and 
the wild paco, vicunna. Chilibueque, or Chi- 
lian sheep, appears to be the name of the domestic 
lama in Chili, as guemul seems to be that of the 
tame paco, whilst alpaque is a denomination to 
a variety of the paco of a black colour. It is not 
yet ascertained whether the lama and the paco 
are two species absolutely separate from each 
other, whether they mix together, or whether 
there are any intermediate breeds, together with 
a number of other facts, necessary to render their 
history complete. 

The lamas* are in great numbers ; *they consti- 
tute the principal riches of the Indians, and do 
not add a little to the wealth of the Spaniards. 
Their flesh is excellent food, their wool is highly 
useful, and they are capable of carrying heavy 
burthens in the most rugged and dangerous roads. 
They will carry from one hundred and fifty to two 

*An accurate representation of the lama is given, drawn from a 
living individual, now in Mr. Brookes's menagerie in Piccadilly. 
It will be found much superior to any hitherto engraved. It has 
been supposed, that they could not be brought to Europe, or even 
to any considerable distance from their native heights ; but the 
above is an example to the contrary, and it is also certain, that 
several of them were brought to Europe soon after the conquest 
of Peru. 



45 5 Lgma. 

hundred pounds weight on their backs • their pace 
is slow, and they seldom travel, more than fifteen 
miles a day, but they are sure-footed, descend 
precipices, and journey with safety amongst the 
most craggy mountains, where even men can 
scarcely ■accompany them. They usually travel 
for five days together, and then, they are obliged 
to rest, which they do of their ow r n accord, for 
two or three days before they resume their journey. 
The growth of the lama is yery quick, and its life 
is of short duration. They copulate at three years 
of age, and remain strong and vigorous till twelve, 
after which they decline, and become entirely 
useless by fifteen. They are gentle and phleg- 
matic, and do every thing with the greatest 
leisure and caution. When they stop to rest, they 
bend their knees very carefully, and rise with 
the same precaution, never disordering their load. 
They feed as they go along, on the grass they meet 
with, but never eat in the night, when they lie 
down to ruminate. They rest with their legs 
folded under their bellies. They do not make 
any defence when struck, either with their feet 
pr teeth; but they throw out a saliva, which, it is 
said, they can eject to the distance of ten paces, 
and is of an acrimonious nature, causing very dan- 
gerous cutaneous eruptions where it touches. 

The lama is about four feet high ; the body, 
including the neck, is five or six feet long. The 
neck is like that of the camel, to which animal it 
bears a great resemblance, excepting the bunch 
on the back. The head is small and welJ-propor- 



Lama, 459 

iioned ; the eyes large, the nose somewhat long, 
the lips thick, the upper one being divided, and 
the under one a little pendulous. There are 
neither incisive nor canine teeth in the upper jaw. 
The ears are four inches in length, and are moved 
with great agility. The tail is short and bushy, 
a little turned up at the end. The foot is cloven, 
and has a spur behind, which assists the animal 
in supporting himself over precipices and along 
rugged ways. The w r ool on the back and crupper 
is short, but it is very long on the belly and sides. 
These animals differ in colour ; some are white, 
others black, and some of an ash colour, but most 
of them are of a mixed brown. The genital mem- 
bers of the male are slender and turned back, so 
that he urines backwards ; they are much inclined 
to venery, though they copulate with difficulty. 
The female has a very small aperture; she pro- 
strates herself to receive the male ; but a whole 
day is sometimes passed before they can accom- 
plish their purpose, and all the time is spent in 
growling, quarrelling, and spitting at each other. 
They seldom produce more than one at a time. 
The female has but two teats. The flesh of the 
young lamas is excellent food, but that of the 
old ones is dry and tough. Their skin is strong; 
the Indians make shoes, and the Spaniards harness 
of it. These useful animals are attended w r ith no 
expense; as they are cloven-footed, they do not 
require to be shod, and their wool renders saddles 
unnecessary. Satisfied with a small portion of 



460 



Guana co. 



vegetables and grass, particularly the reedy grass, 
called ichu, they want neither corn nor hay ; and 
they are still more moderate in their drink, as their 
mouths are constantly moistened with saliva, of 
which they have a greater quantity than any other 
animal. 

The guanacos, or wild lamas, are stronger, 
brisker, and swifter, than the domestic ones ; thev 
run like stags, and climb over the most rugged 
precipices, like goats ; their wool is shorter, and 
their colour tawny. They aie gregarious, and 
assemble in large herds from one to five hundred 
in number. When they see any of the human spe- 
cies they regard him at first with astonishment, 
without shewing any fear or surprise ; but shortly, 
as if by common consent, they blow through their 
nostrils, neigh like horses, and then, by a general 
flight, take refuge on the tops of the mountains. 
They are fonder of the north than of the south side 
of the hills. They often remain in the snowy parts 
of the mountains ; they seem in best condition when 
travelling on the snow, and appear more vigorous 
in proportion to the coldness of their situation. 
The natives hunt them principally for the, sake of 
the fleece, but it is not so valuable, nor the wool 
of so fine a texture as that of the domestic lama. 
Dogs have much trouble to follow them, and if 
they gain the tops of the mountains, both hunters 
and dogs must desist from the pursuit. Whilst 
they are grazing they place a centinel on an^emi- 



Paco or Vicunna, 



461 



ftenee, who alarms the herd upon the approach of 
the hunters. 

The Paco, or vicunna (the one its domesti- 
cated, the other its wild denomination) is a species 
of animal subordinate to the lama, much in the 
same proportion as the ass is to the horse. They 
are not so serviceable as beasts of burthen, but 
their fleeces are more useful. Their wool is fine 
and long, and is a valuable article of merchandize, 
being called vicunna- wool, from the name they 
principally go by. The natural colour of it is that 
of a dried rose leaf* which is so permanent that it 
undergoes no alteration under the hands of the 
manufacturer*. The genial warmth which ac- 
companies every kind of clothing manufactured 
from the wool, which is at the same time most 
beautifully silky and light, makes it highly useful, 
and it will, no doubt, now become more generally 
known and used in this country than it possibly 
could be before the capture of Buenos Ay res. The 
pacos possess many things in common with the 
lamas ; they are of the same disposition, manners, 
and nearly of the same temperament ; they resem- 
ble them in figure, being, however, smaller, their 
legs shorter, and their muzzles thicker and closer. 
They inhabit and pasture on the highest parts of 
the mountains. Snow and ice seem rather to re- 

* Vicunna- wool is the principal material in the present fashion- 
able manufacture, which is honoured with the name of Georgians 
stuff, from the beautiful duchess of Bedford, and which not being 
dyed is of the natural colour of the wool as described above. 



Paco of 



fresh than to be inconvenient to them. They keep 
together in flocks, and run very swiftly. They 
are very timid, and take flight as soon as they per- 
ceive any person. The ancient monarchs of Peru 
prohibited the hunting of them, because they mul- 
tiply very slowly * but since the Spaniards have 
been in possession of the country their numbers 
are very much decreased. Their flesh is not so 
good as that of the guanacos, and they are only 
sought after for their fleeces and the bezoars they 
produce. The hunters contrive to drive a flock of 
them into a narrow passage, across which cords 
have been stretched about four feet from the 
ground with a number of linen or woollen rags 
hanging to them. The animals are so intimidated 
at the sight of these rags, agitated by the wind, 
that they stop, and, crowding together, great nurn- 
bers are killed with ease. But if there happen to 
be any guanacos among the flock, as they are less 
timid than the pacos, they leap over the cords ; 
and their example is immediately followed by the 
whole groupe, who then escape from their pur- 
suers. The domestic pacos are employed to cany 
burthens, like the lamas ; but they carry much less 
weight even in proportion to their size, They arc 
also of a very stubborn nature, and when once they 
lie down with their load, will suffer themselves to 
be cut to pieces rather than rise. The Indians 
never use the milk of these animals, as they have 
scarcely enough to supply their own young. 
When in a domestic state many of them are black, 



/ r icunnct. 



and are called alpaqnes. The great profit derived 
from their wool induced the Spaniards to endeavour 
to naturalize them in their European dominions ; 
but the climate not agreeing with their nature, not 
one of those that were transported to Old Spain lived. 
Those who brought them into Spain did not consi- 
der that they cannot exist even in Peru, but iri 
the cold regions, that is on the tops of the highest 
mountains ; that they are never to be found in the 
vallies, and die if brought into warm countries. 
Consequently, in order to preserve mem in Eii- 
rope, they should be landed in Scotland, or Nor- 
way, in the mountains of which countries it is pro- 
bable they might be reared. 

These animals all produce Bezoar-stones, the 
wild guanacos and vicunnas yield them of 
larger size and better quality than the domestic 
lamas and pacos. Those produced in a state of 
slavery arc small, black, and of little value. The 
best bezoars are of a dark green colour, and are 
found in the wild vicunnas, especially in those 
who feed in the snow on the tops of the mountains. 
Of these, both the male and female produce be- 
zoars. These Peruvian bezoars are next in estima- 
tion to the oriental, and rank higher than those 
of New Spain, which are produced by stags, 
and are the least efficacious of any. 

Amongst the wild animals of South America, 

o 

lions, tigers, and bears, are enumerated : but of 
species dissimilar from those of the old continent, 
less ferocious, weaker, and comparatively diminu- 



464 



Puma. 



tive. When the Europeans first discovered Ame- 
rica, almost every animal of the new world ap- 
peared to be different from what they had seen 
before, and it was therefore necessary to give 
names to the principal ones. As those given themr 
by the natives were barbarous and difficult to pro- 
nounce or remember, names were borrowed from 
the European languages ; and a small affinity in 
external, appearance was sufficient to attribute to 
unknown objects the names of those that were 
familiar. Naturalists have, however, since discri- 
minated the species; and the lions and tigers of 
ancient travellers have received the distinctive ap- 
pellations of puma, jaguar, and cougar. The 
bears, indeed, that inhabit some of the moun- 
tains of the Cordillera have not been described 
with sufficient accuracy to decide whether they 
are of the same kind as those of North America, 
or a separate and more diminutive species. 

The puma, or American lion, is much smaller 
than that of Africa and Asia, and the male has no 
mane. They avoid the sight of man, and commit 
no havoc but amongst the cattle. Their heads are 
formed in an intermediate resemblance to those of 
the wolf and the tiger, and they have tails shorter 
than either. In colour they are in general grey, 
but in Chaco their fur is red and very long. They 
climb up trees for safety, are cowardly, and fly 
from the barking of a dog. They are, however, 
very scarce in the parts inhabited by the Spaniards. 



Jaguar and Cougar, 4&3 

They are sometimes caught and kept in cages by 
the Indians. 

Of the American tigers there are two kinds* the 
Jaguar and the Cougar. The former resembles 
the ounce in size, and also in the form of the spots 
on its skin, and in disposition. The ground of its 
colour is a bright yellow. Its tail is shorter than 
that of the panther or the leopard ; its hair is 
longer than the panther's, but shorter than that of 
the ounce ; it is frizzled when he is young, but 
smooth when at full growth. Though its size is 
seldom above that of an ordinary dog, it is never- 
theless a most formidable and cruel -animal. Yet 
when his appetite is gorged, a single dog will put 
him to flight, and he also is afraid of a lighted 
brand. Although its general size is said to be only 
that of an ordinary dog, M. Sonini de Manoncour 
had the skin of one which measured nearly five 
feet from the nose to the tail, which was two feet 
long, and from the tracts he saw, he concluded that 
the American tigers were as large as any others, 
except the royal tiger*. They commit great de- 
vastations amongst the flocks. All the animals of 
the new continent fly from the jaguar, not being 
able to withstand his power ; the only one capa- 
ble of making any tolerable resistance is the ant-- 
eater, who, on being attacked, turns on his back,. 

* The Rev. Mr. Gregory, one of the English missionaries, cap- 
tured in the Duff, purchased at Montevideo, from an Indian 
hunter, and brought with him to England, a tiger-skin, which 
measured eight feet in length, exclusive of the tail, 

2H 



466 Yaguaru. 

and often preserves himself by the strength of his 
long claws. 

The Cougar is longer, but less thick than the 
jaguar ; he has a small head, long tail, and short 
hair, nearly of one colour, a lively red, intermixed 
with some black tints, particularly on the back. 
He is neither marked with stripes like the tiger, 
nor with spots like the panther, ounce, or leopard. 
The chin, neck, and all the lower parts of the body, 
are white or whitish. Though not so strong as the 
jaguar, he is as fierce, and perhaps more cruel ; 
yet he is easily tamed, and rendered nearly as fa- 
miliar as domestic animals. When glutted with 
prey, he is both indolent and cowardly. There is 
reason to believe, that the animal described by 
some travellers, under the name of Ocorome, is 
the same as the cougar. It is necessary, when tra- 
velling in the woods, to light fires, in order to 
keep off both jaguars and cougars, who are equally 
afraid of fire. 

"Yaguaru, an Indian name, signifying water- 
tiger, is the appellation given to a kind of amphi- 
bious animal, inhabiting the river Parana, which 
is very seldom seen, and of which no accurate 
description has been given. It is vaguely de- 
scribed as being of the size of an ass, with a 
head like a wolf, and stiff, erect ears, sharp talons, 
and strong tusks, thick and short legs, long shaggy 
hair, and a long tapering tail. It is always, when 
seen, found lying on a bank near the river, whence, 
on hearing the least noise, it immediately plunges 



Ania. 



467 



into the water. It is very destructive to the 
cattle on the banks of the river; when it has 
once seized its prey, it is seen no more, and the 
lungs and entrails are soon seen floating on the 
water. It lives in the deepest prrts, particularly 
in the eddies or whirlpools formed by the con- 
fluence of two streams, and it sleeps in the deep 
caverns along the banks. 

The Anta or Danta is another animal of which 
naturalists have given no description. It is fre- 
quent in the forests and in the plains of Paraguay 4 
but has been so much hunted for its skin, as well 
as for its flesh, that it is scarce in Tucuman and 
Buenos Ayres. It is of a kind between the elk 
and the buffalo, but is without horns.* It is of 
the size of a large ass ; its head long and tapering* 
ending in a small trunk, which it extends or con- 
tracts at pleasure. The body is very strong and 
broad at the shoulders and haunches. The legs 
are long, and shaped like those of the stag, but 
stronger. The feet are cloven, and some accounts 
say that the fore feet are cloven in two, and the 
hind feet in three. The tail is short, and like that 
of a deer. The strength of this animal is won- 
derful, being able to drag a pair of horses after it, 
whilst one horse is sufficient to take a wild bull. 
When pursued, he opens his way through the 
thickest woods and coppices, breaking clown eveiy 
thing that hinders him. No attempts have been 
made to tame this animal, though he is by no 
means fierce, and does no mischief but tq the 
2 11 2 



468 



PeccarL 



plantations. He is a grazing and ruminating ani- 
mal, and, if domesticated, might be of great 
service, on account of his strength. In the sto- 
mach are found bezoar-stones, which are in great 
estimation. The flesh is very wholesome, and 
differs from beef in nothing than being more light 
and delicate. The skin, which is covered with 
long brown hair, is so stout, that, when dressed, 
it is said to be even proof against fire-arms.* 

The Peccari, or Mexican hog, is found in some 
parts of Paraguay, the principal characteristic of 
which is a vent or opening on the crupper, from 
which an ichorous humour of a very disagreeable 
smell is discharged, and which proceeds from 
large glartds in the back. This animal might 
easily be rendered domestic like the common hog ; 
he has nearly the same habits and natural inclina- 
tions, feeds upon the same aliments, and his flesh, 
though more dry and lean, is not unpalatable, 
and might be improved by castration. When 
killed, not only the parts of generation (as is also 
done with the wild boar) must be instantly taken 
away, but also the glands at the aperture in the 
back, and which are common to both male and 
female; for if this operation be deferred for only 
half an hour, the flesh is so completely infected, 

* An animal of this kind is said to have been lately brought to 
England, as a present to earl Fitzwilliam. A faithful drawing, 
and an accurate description of it, would be an acceptable present 
to the lovers of natural history. 



Tapir. 469 

that it becomes wholly unfit to be eaten. This 
opening has been erroneously supposed to be the 
navel of the animal. 

The Tapir, though most abundant in Brazil, 
is also found on the banks of the Parana and Pa- 
raguay. It is of the size of a small cow, but has 
neither horns nor tail. It is of a dark brown co- 
lour; the head thick and long, with a kind of 
trunk like the rhinoceros. It is a dull and gloomy 
animal, and never stirs out but at night. It de- 
lights in the water, and chiefly lives in the 
marshes and along the borders of lakes and 
rivers. The tapir does not, however, feed on fish, 
but on plants and roots. He is of a mild and 
timid nature, and flies from every attack 01 dan- 
ger. His legs are short, and his body heavy, 
yet he runs swiftly, and swims still better than 
he runs. His skin is of a very firm texture, and 
so strong as often to resist a bullet. The flesh is 
coarse and insipid, but is eaten by the Indians. 
Tapirs are gregarious, and go in large companies. 

Tatoos, or Armadillos, are very numerous all 
over South America, which is their native and 
exclusive clime. There are several different kinds, 
of various sizes, and diversity of armature. In- 
stead of hair, they are covered with a testaceous 
crus^t, which extends over the back, head, and 
tail ; the throat, breast, and belly having a white 
grainy skin like that of a plucked fowl, though 
some have hair on those parts. The crust is not 
in one piece, but divided into several bands* 
2 ii 3 



470 Armadillo. Paca. 



joined to each other by membranes. These ani- 
mals can all contract themselves into a round 
form with more or less facility . They are inno- 
cent and harmless, except in gardens. They walk 
quickly, but can neither leap, run, nor climb up 
trees, so that they cannot escape from those that 
pursue them ; they have then no resource but to 
hide themselves in their holes, or, if at too great 
a distance from them, to dig one before, they are 
overtaken, for which they require but a few mo- 
ments, the mole not being more expert in digging 
the earth. When in their burrows, they may be 
forced out by smoking them, or letting water run 
down their holes. They only come out of their 
holes at night to seek their food. The armadillo 
is hunted by small dogs, by whom he is soon 
overtaken, but before they reach him, he always 
contracts himself, in which condition he is seized 
and carried off. If near the brink of a precipice, 
he escapes both dogs and hunters, for, contracting, 
he rolls himself down like a ball, without any 
hurt or prejudice to his coat of mail. They are 
also easily taken with snares laid for them on the 
banks of rivers, and in marshy places. These 
animals are fat, and their flesh is reckoned as good 
as that of a sucking pig. They are very prolific ; 
the male has exterior signs of great generative 
faculties, ana! the female brings forth every four 
months. 

The Paca is an animal that dis;s itself a burrow 
like a rabbit. It has a larger body than the 



Chinna, ; Zorillo, 



471 



hare, and is more compact. The head is round, 
'and the snout short. It is fat and bulky, and its 
flesh is very good to eat. A perpetual war is 
therefore carried on against these animals ; but 
hunters find it very difficult to take them alive, 
for when they are surprised in their burrows, which 
have two openings, they defend themselves, and 
bite with great rage and inveteracy. They are, 
however, easily domesticated, and are then very 
gentle and tractable. They bring forth very often, 
and in great numbers; men, and animals of prey, 
destroy large quantities of them, and yet the spe- 
cies does not diminish. 

The Chinna is an animal about the size of a 
rabbit, but in figure resembling a little dog. This 
animal enters the houses in the country, eats 
whatever it finds, and roves about amongst the 
dogs, who do not disturb it no more than t^eir 
masters, for they all fear and respect it, though 
it does no harm either with its teeth or claws. 
The circumstance which places it in security is, 
that it has a little bladder, at the root of the tail 
near the anus, which contains an excessively foedd 
liquor, which it darts against those who attack 
it, and the smell of which is said 10 be so Infec- 
tious as to render a chamber uninhabitable for 
ever, if but one drop happens to fall in it. The 
Zorillo is another species of stinkard, or polecat^ • 
the fur of which is in some request. 

These are the most remarkable amongst the- 
quadrupeds of these regions, besides winch xhexe 



472 



Emu. 



are two or three kinds of foxes, rabbits, deer, 
goats, &c. also raccoons, and both the agouti and 
coati. 

Of birds, that which occupies the first place is 
the Emu, which is generally called the ostrich of 
South America. It is inferior in size to no bird 
but the ostrich, to which all travellers seem to 
have been more desirous of approximating its 
affinities, than in pointing out its peculiarities. 
These birds were formerly much more numerous, 
but as population increased, and settlements ex-, 
tended, these timid animals have fled from the 
vicinity of the habitations of men. The emu is 
generally six feet high measuring from the head 
to the feet. The legs are three feet long, and the 
thighs are nearly as thick as those of a man. 
Their toes differ from those of the ostrich ; they 
have three upon each foot, whereas the latter has 
only one. The emu has a long neck, small 
head, and the bill flattened like that of the 
ostrich, but in other respects it more resembles 
the cassowary. The wings are very short, and 
it has not any tail. The back and rump are 
covered with long feathers, which fall backward 
and cover the anus. These feathers are grey 
upon the back and white upon the belly. It is 
very swift, and is assisted in its pace by a kind 
of tubercle behind, upon which, on plain ground, 
it treads very securely, It runs with such swift-, 
ness, that the fleetest dogs are thrown out in 
the pursuit. V arious tales have been rejated of the 



Condor, 



473 



maimer in which the eggs of the emu are hatched. 
The following appears to be the most singular 
mode of hatching that ever was adopted ; it is 
^elated by a late intelligent traveller (Helms), 
that, in crossing the Pampas, about fifty of their 
eggs w r ere brought out of the long grass, and 
each of the party having put one in his hat, the 
heat of the sun being very great, the young birds, 
to the no small astonishment of the travellers, 
broke the shells and ran away into the grass, 
which they began to devour with a great appe- 
tite. The young ones, when hatched, are of the 
size of a chicken two months old. They are so 
familiar, that they will follow the first person 
they meet, and are very harmless and simple, 
but as they grow older, they become more cun- 
ning and distrustful. The flesh of the emu is 
in general good to be eaten, especially when 
young; and it would not be a difficult matter 
to rear up tame flocks of them, particularly 
as they are naturally so familiar, and they 
might be found to answer domestic purposes like 
the hen or turkey. Their maintenance would 
not be expensive, as they subsist entirely on 
grass. 

The celebrated Condor of the Cordillera has 
been referred both to the species of the eagle, and 
to that of the vulture. Its great strength, force, 
and vivacity, are supposed to give it a claim to 
rank with the former, whilst the baldness of its 
head and neck is thought to degrade it to that of 



474 



Condor, 



the latter. If size, for it is by much the largest 
bird that flies, and strength, combined with rapi- 
dity of flight and rapacity, deserve pre-eminence, 
no bird can be put in competition with it ; for tho» 
condor possesses, in a higher degree than the eagle, 
all the qualities that render it formidable, not only 
to the feathered kind, but also to beasts, and even 
to man himself. It is asserted, that individual 
condors have been found to measure eighteen feet 
across the wings, when extended, but the general 
size seems to be twelve or thirteen feet. The beak 
is so strong as to pierce the body of a cow, and 
two condors are capable of devouring that animal. 
The Indians say they wdll carry off a deer, a young 
calf, or a sheep, in their talons, as eagles would a 
hare or a rabbit ; and there are many instances of 
children being carried off by them. They seldom 
frequent the forests, as they require a large space 
for the display of their wings, but are principally 
found on the elevated pinacles of the mountains, 
and occasionally on the sea-shore and banks of the 
rivers. It is a matter of some doubt, whether this 
bird is confined to the new world, as has been 
asserted, or is also a native of other countries, 
though under different denominations. The great 
bird called the roc, described by Arabian writers, 
so much exaggerated by fable; the large bird of 
Tarnasser, in the East Indies ; and the vulture of 
Senegal, which carries off children ; are probably 
no other than this bird. In the deserts of 
Pachomac, where it is chiefly seen s men seldom 



Vultures, 



475 



venture to travel, "These wild regions," says a 
modern writer, "are sufficient of themselves to 
inspire a secret horror — broken precipices — prowl- 
ing tigers — forests only rendered vocal by the 
hissing of serpents — and mountains rendered still 
more terrible by the condor, the only bird who 
has its residence in these desolate places." 

Carrion vultures are very common, and fly in 
large flocks ; they feed upon the numerous car- 
cases of the cattle slaughtered for the sake of their 
hides. They are also of great utility in devouring 
snakes and other vermin. This bird is full as large 
as a turkey. Its head and neck are bare of feathers, 
and of a reddish colour, and the sides of the head 
are warted like those of a turkey. The plumage 
of the wings and back is of a brownish black, with 
a purple and greenish gloss. At first they fly hea- 
vily, but afterwards dart up out of sight. On the 
ground they hop along, apparently with much 
torpor, though their legs are strong and well pro- 
portioned. When they perceive any beast with 
a sore on its back, they immediately alight on it, 
and attack the part affected. It is in vain for the 
poor beast to endeavour to free itself from these 
deyourers, either by rolling on the ground, or by 
flight; for they never quit their hold, but with 
their strong and crooked bills they so widen the 
wound that the creature soon expires. They are 
called gallinazos by the Spaniards ; and there are 
two or three varieties of them. 

The dispertador, or awakener, is a singular bird, 



476 Dispertador. Macagua. 

which is found all over the country. They have 
their name from their giving notice to others of 
the approach of any danger. On hearing the ap- 
proach of any creature, whether man or beast, they 
rise from the ground, and make a loud chattering, 
not unlike that of a magpye, continuing the noise, 
and flying about in the air over the object that 
caused the alarm. This is understood by the other 
birds, who immediately rise, and escape the 
threatened danger. This bird is about the size of 
a middling fowl, its plumage is black and white; 
the head somewhat large, erect, and beautifully 
adorned with a tuft of feathers ; its eyes are large, 
sharp, and lively ; its bill is well proportioned, 
strong, and a little curved. On the fore part of 
the wings are two spurs, about an inch in length, 
of a reddish tint towards the root, and thin points, 
resembling those of a cock, being very hard and 
sharp. They make use of them as weapons against 
other birds, particularly those of prey. 

The macagua is a kind of sparrow, of the size of 
a blackbird, which feeds on snakes, and is not 
afraid to attack the most venemous. The guirape, 
or ringing bird, is remarkable for its note, which 
is extremely loud, and strongly resembles the 
sound of a bell. Mocking birds are common in 
some parts ; and there is a very singular bird, de- 
scribed by Ulloa as inhabiting the deserts of the 
Cordillera. It is called thezumbador, or hummer, 
and is a night-bird, peculiar to the mountainous, 
deserts. They are seldom seen, but are ofteu 



Zumhador. 



477 



heard, as they make a strange humming noise in 
the air by the rapidity of their flight, which may 
be heard at a considerable distance, and when near, 
is louder than that of a rocket going off. " In 
moon 7 ight nights/' he adds, " when they most 
frequently make their appearance, we have often 
watched to see their size, and the celerity of their 
motion ; and though they passed very near us, we 
were never able to form any idea of their magni- 
tude ; all that we could see was a white line, which 
they formed in their flight through the air, and: this 
was plainly perceivable, when at no great distance. 
We promised the Indians a reward if they would 
procure us one ; but all they could do, was to get 
a young one, scarcely fledged, though it was then 
of the size of a partridge, and all over speckled with 
dark and light brown spots. The bill was propor- 
tionate and straight ; the apertures of the nostrils 
very large ; the tail small, and the wings of a size 
adapted to that of the body." According to the 
Indians it is with the nostrils that this bird makes 
such a loud humming. 

Of geese there are no less than six varieties. 
Ducks are also in great abundance and diversity. 
The other birds are pheasants, partridges of a large 
size, pigeons, &c. besides eagles, kites, owls, and 
falcons. 

The rivers abound in fish of a great variety of 
kinds ; the principal are the following : 

The dorado, or gold fish, which is in great 
plenty, and is much esteemed. They are very 



478 



Fishes. Dorado. 



large, being about six feet long, and some weigh* 
ing from twenty to thirty pounds each. The flesh 
is white and firm. The head is reckoned the best 
part. It is one of the most beautiful, most active, 
and most voracious fishes of the spinous kind* 
The eyes are placed on each side of the head, large 
and beautiful, surrounded with circles of shining 
gold. The back is enamelled all over with spots 
of a blueish green and silver ; the tail and fins 
are of a gold colour, and altogether displays an 
inimitable brilliancy. 

The packu is the best and most delicious fish of 
any in these rivers, and has an excellent taste. It 
is a thick broad fish like the turbot, of a dark 
dusky colour, with a mixture of yellow. Its 
breadth is two thirds of its length. Its scales are 
very small, and the head is small in proportion to 
the body. This fish is in high estimation, but is 
seldom found but in the spring and summer. 
When salted with care, it may be kept some 
months dried, but after that time, being very fat, 
it grows rancid. 

Another fish in great esteem, is the corvino, 
which is only found near the mouth of the Plata, 
where the salt and fresh water mix together. It 
is as large as a middle-sized cod, and in shape re- 
sembles the carp. It has very large thick bones 
and broad scales. It is very good either fresh, 
salted, or dried. At the proper season large quan- 
tities of them are taken by the hook, about Mai- 



Vejereijes. Lisa. 479 

tlonado and Montevideo, and are sent to Buenos 
Ayres, and up the rivers. 

The pejereyes, or king's fish, area kind of smelt 
or sparling, which they resemble in colour, shape, 
and taste, except that the head is very large* and 
the mouth very wide. Their size is about that of 
amackerel. They are in great quantities in the 
Plata. When the Parana increases in the month 
of July, they go up that river in vast shoals, a little 
above Santa Fe, to leave their spawn in the lesser 
rivers which enter the Parana. The fishermen catch 
them with hooks in large numbers, cut them open, 
dry them, and sell them in the adjacent towns. 
They are of an excellent taste, and their flesh is 
very white, without any fat. When fresh, they 
are considered as a great dainty. They must be 
dried without salt, as it would immediately con- 
sume them ; and if any moisture comes to them, 
where they are hung up to dry, they will cor- 
rupt. 

The lisa, in shape, size, and taste, resembles the 
jnackerel ; but is not of so beautiful a colour, nor 
so small near the tail, and the scales are larger. 
This fish swims no higher than the Plata, where 
the greatest shoals are to be found near the mouth 
in the high tides. With the full and new moon 
they enter in such numbers into the small rivers 
that empty themselves into the Plata, near its 
mouth, particularly the Saladillo. 

The savaila and boga are fish like the carp. In 
the Parana and the Plata, they weigh three or four 



4S0 Devtudo* Palometa* Mungrullu* 

pounds. All the rivers of these provinces yield 
great quantities of these fish, so that they are very 
cheap, and the inhabitants lay in a great stock of 
them salted and dried. In eating these fish great 
caution is requisite, on account of the multiplicity 
and smallness of their bones. The boga, when 
fresh, rs thought better than the savalla, though 
the latter is both larger and broader. They are 
taken by nets. 

The dentudo, so called on account of its large 
and sharp fore teeth, is somewhat inferior to the 
last. It weighs in general about a pound and a 
half ; but, though well tasted, is seldom eaten, as 
it has great numbers of dangerous bones. It is a 
very thorny fish. 

The palometa is a small, broad, flat, fish ; 
thorny, but well tasted. It has ugly, sharp, fins, 
with which it wounds those who take hold of it 
too hastily. The wound which is made by these 
fins is very painful, shoots, festers, and inflames 
in such a manner, that it often brings on a fever, 
convulsions, and tetanus ; so that it sometimes 
terminates in death. 

The Mungrullu is the largest fish found in this 
river. There are some that weigh a hundred 
weight. It has a smooth skin of an ash colour, 
somewhat inclining to yellow r , a bony head, 
rough gums, and a wide swallow. The flesh is 
of a pale red colour and very firm. It is very 
strong and heavy in the water, and it requires 



Znruhi. Patl. Armado. 



482 



very firm tackle, and great strength to take 
it. 

The zurubi is next in size to the mungrullu, 
and not much inferior. Its head is almost one 
third of its whole length, and is all bone. It has 
a very broad flat mouth, and an exceeding wide 
throat. The skin is smooth, of a white ash co- 
lour, spotted like a tiger, with large, round, 
black spots. Its flesh is white, sound, firm, and 
well tasted, and it is the best of these fish without 
scales. 

The pati is not of a much less size than the 
last-mentioned ; but has a smaller head and nar- 
rower swallow, and has also some flesh upon the 
head. Its colour is like that of the raungrullu : 
the flesh is of a yellowish white, and it is esteemed 
almost as much as the zurubi. 

The armado is a thick strong fish with a short 
body. It is about a foot in length, and generally 
weighs from four to six pounds* A small part 
of the belly is cartilaginous, except which the 
fish is covered w 7 ith hard thick bone. The head 
and fore part are covered with plates of bone, 
extending from the back to the belly* and lapping 
over one another. Its back, sides, and fins are 
all armed with strong sharp points, which are so 
fixed in sockets that the fish can point them in 
any direction in defence of himself. Having no 
teeth for defence, nature seems to have compen- 
sated that deficiency by bestowing on it weapons 
and armour of an extraordinary kind. When 

2 I 



1 5 2 Rat] as . Erho * 

taken, it makes a grunting noise, and endeavours 
to wound ; for which reason it must be stunned 
before it can be handled with safety. Its flesh is 
very white and firm* 

The rayasj or rays, are so very plentiful in the 
Parana, that the shallow sand-banks are entirely 
covered by them. They are of an oval figure, 
^nearly three quarters of a yard in length ; the back 
is of a dark colour, and the belly white. They 
are flat, and have the mouth in the middle of the 
belly, which is the greatest part of the fish, the 
skirts being very narrow, not above three inches- 
broad, and much thinner than those of our rays. 
As this is the only eatable part, they are in no 
esteem. This fish has a long narrow tail, at the 
root of which, on the back, it has a sharp-pointed 
bone, which has two edges, rough like a saw, with 
small teeth, with which it wounds those who 
approach, or tread upon, it. The wounds made 
by these bones are sometimes attended with very 
fatal consequences ; for very frequently the bone 
is broken in the wound, and can not be taken out, 
but by an incision very difficult to be. performed 
in the tendinous parts of the feet. The wound 
then inflames, does not suppurate, and brings on a 
fever, with 'convulsions, attended too often with 
tetanus and death. 

The erizo, or water hedge-hog, is very like the 
armado, but not quite so large. Besides being 
armed in the same manner, it has a very rough 



Vieja. Eagres. Amphibia. 4S3 

skin, full of short, sharp, points. Its flesh is not 
so well tasted as that of the armado. 

The vieja, or old woman, bears a resemblance 
both to the armado, and to the erizo. It is armed 
with prickles, but they are neither so strong, nor 
so numerous, as those of the others. Its skin, 
which is of a mottled grey colour, appears to be 
full of wrinkles ; it grunts like the armado, when 
taken; and its flesh is very good. They seldom 
weigh two pounds, and in the small brooks and 
rivulets they do not weigh more than half a 
pound. 

The bagres, excepting in size, are like the pati» 
They very seldom weigh so much as a pound and 
a half. They have a strong pointed bone in each 
of the fins near the head, and must be handled with 
caution after they are taken, as they live a long- 
time out of water. Their flesh is soft and well- 
tasted. They are caught both by nets and by 
hooks. 

Of amphibious animals, turtles are sometimes, 
but not often, met with ; seals, and sea-lions, 
abound at the isle de Lobos, off Montevideo, as 
well as in many places along the coast of Pata- 
gonia ; and alligators, or caymans, are numerous, 
of a large size, voracious, and destructive, in all 
the interior rivers. 

Innumerable are the tribes of reptiles and of in- 
sects, that infest the interior of South America. 
The damp forests, and rank soil of the borders of 
the rivers, teem with almost every offensive and 

2 I 2 



4S4 Insects. SastiUo. 

poisonous creature, which the power of a sultry 
sun can quicken into life; and by the heat, the 
moisture, and the corruption, of a tropical climate 
and stagnant marshes, they multiply faster, and 
grow to a more monstrous bulk than 7 in any other 
quarter of the globe. But amongst the insects, 
there are also some of eminent utility, and atten- 
tion is particularly attracted to one of recent disco- 
very, which, from its production, has received the 
name of bombyx papifer. 

It is a worm, called sustillo by the Indians, by 
which a paper, very similar to China paper, is fa- 
bricated* This caterpillar is bred in the pacae, a 
species of mimosa ; and the number of insects is 
in proportion to the vigour and size of the tree. 
When satiated with nutriment, they unite at the 
trunk, seeking the part that is best adapted for 
their purpose* They there form, with the great- 
est symmetry and regularity, a web, which is 
larger or smaller, according to the number of its 
manufacturers, and more or less pliant according 
to the quality of the leaves upon which they have 
fed. They conceal themselves behind this cover- 
ing, which is of such a texture, consistency, and 
lustre, as can not be decomposed or tarnished by 
any practicable expedient. The shape of the web 
is eliptical, and the worms range themselves un- 
der it in even files, forming a perfect square in the 
centre. Each then makes its cocoon of a coarse 
and short silk, and successively becomes a chrysa- 
lis and a moth. In proportion as" they quit their 



Bees. 



confinement to take wing, they detach, wherever 
it is most convenient to them, their envelope, a 
portion of which remains suspended to the trunk 
of the tree, where it waves to and fro like a 
streamer, and becomes more or less white accord- 
ing to the dryness or moisture of the air, and to 
the season and situation. A complete nest was 
transmitted some time since to the king of Spain, 
together with a piece of this natural silk-paper, 
measuring a yard and a half, which is the general 
size of the webs. They form the most durable, as 
well as the most beautiful writing-paper that can 
be conceived. 

Of bees, there are innumerable swarms through- 
out the whole of the country, and their wax and 
honey form a very considerable part of the inte- 
rior traffic. There are several varieties of them, 
but none are reared in a domestic state. Some 
hive in the trunks of trees, but the most common 
sort fix their nests upon the branches in a very cu- 
rious manner. These nests form an oval ball of 
wax, about the size of an ox-bladder. At its apex 
is ,the opening through which the insect enters, 
and within are cells filled with the purest honey. 
The wax of which the outer shell is made, is of a 
coarse and earthy nature, and though the heat of 
the climate melts the surface, it is so kneaded as 
to allow for the waste, and to become firmer -and 
harder after a portion has dripped away. In T il- 
eum an, there is a very small bee that builds its 
nest in holes under ground, and produces a kind 

2 i 3 



486 Insects. Reptiles, 

of honey, called alpamisqua, which has an agree- 
able acid flavour mingled with its saccharine qua- 
lity. 

The cochineal-insect is also met with in Tucu- 
man, where a small quantity of that valuable 
drug is collected. The opuntia, or nopal-tree, on 
which it is nourished, is indigenous there, but 
scarce; it is not cultivated, and the little cochi- 
neal that is collected is taken from the woods. 

The cameleon grows to an immense size in some 
parts of the country, and individuals are said to 
have been seen two or three feet in length. Li- 
zards in great diversity abound in the marshy 
places. Glow-worms, and fire-flies are common 
and of a large size ; whilst innumerable swarms 
of musquitos, and of ants, are the troublesome in«* 
mates of every dwelling, and of the most secret 
recesses ; and centepees and scorpions, blattse, 
wasps, and locusts, add to the many plagues to 
man amongst the insect-tribe. 

In the reptile race, monsters of the most enor- 
mous bulk, and serpents of the most direful ve- 
nom, are met with in numbers. They mostly, 
however, infest the unfrequented forests, and 
places to which the settlements of the Spaniards 
have not yet extended, and snakes are less fre- 
quent in the immediate vicinity of Buenos Ayres 
than in Georgia and the Carolinas. 

The enormous snake called by the Indians, in 
some parts, the jacumama, or mother of water, be- 
cause it delights in lakes and marshy places ; and 



» 



Snakes. 



48/ 



by various other names, in others ; has been men- 
tioned by every traveller. Some of these snakes 
have been seen fifty feet in length, but the largest 
of which the skin has been brought to Europe, 
was thirty-six feet in length. From twenty to 
thirty feet is a common size. From the conform- 
ation of their jaws, like other serpents, they can 
swallow a body of three times the size of their own 
volume. Like some fish, they appear to have no 
bounds put to their growth; their bones are in a 
great measure cartilaginous, and they are conse- 
quently capable of great extension. The older 
therefore, a serpent becomes, the larger it grows, 
and as they live to a great age, they attain an enor- 
mous size. Their voracity is extreme, and they 
attack and devour the largest animals. But hap- 
pily for mankind, their rapacity is often their pu- 
nishment, for whenever they have gorged them- 
selves, and their body is distended with food, they 
become torpid and may be approached and de- 
stroyed with safety. After having surfeited them- 
selves with their prey, they seek some rerreat, 
where they lurk for several days together, and re- 
main unwieldy, stupid, helpless, and sleepy. The 
smallest effort is sufficient to destroy them; they 
can scarcely make any- resistance ; they are equally 
unqualified for fright or opposition ; and even a 
naked Indian does not then fear to assail them. 
They have no venom, but conquer their larger 
prey by crushing it in their folds; by turning- 
round and drawing the knot with convulsive 

2 I 4 



4SS 



Snakes. 



energy, the enormous reptile breaks every bone in 
the quadruped's body, and devours it at one mor- 
sel. They are slow but indefatigable in the pur- 
suit of prey. Though they are, above all animals, 
the most voracious ; and, though the morsel which 
they swallow, without mastication, is greater than 
what any other creature, either by land or water, 
can devour, yet no animals upon earth can bear 
abstinence so long.* A single meal seems to be 
the adventure of a season, and is an occurrence 
which they have been for weeks, nay, sometimes 
for months, in patient expectation of. The for- 
tunate capture of an hour is often sufficient to 
serve them for the period of their annual activity. 
Their prey continues for a long time, partly in the 
stomach and partly in the gullet, digesting and 
dissolving by degrees; and, in proportion as the 
part below is digested, the part above is taken in. 
It is not therefore till this tedious operation is en- 
tirely performed, that the serpent renews its ap- 
petite and activity. But it still can continue to 
bear famine, for weeks, months, nay, even for years 
together. The serpent-tribe thus unite in them- 
selves two very opposite* qualities ; wonderful ab- 
stinence and incredible rapacity. The breath of 

* The fact of living toads being found encased in marble is an 

fc> £5 

inexplicable phenomenon, but can not be considered as a proof of 
the natural abstinence of the animal, as though those incarcerated 
toads must have lived for centuries without tasting food, they 
have always died upon being relieTed from confinement and ex- 
posed to the action of the air. 



Snakes. 



489 



this snake is said to possess an attractive and intoxi- 
cating quality, by which the smaller animals and 
birds are either drawn towards them, or fixed mo- 
tionless untill the unwieldy monster can approach 
them; and though the exaggerated tales of tra- 
vellers and Indians may render us reasonably 
sceptical as to many of the wonderful effects at- 
tributed to the noxious nature of its breath ; it is 
not improbable, that it is endowed with some such 
inebriating quality, as an expedient for the capture 
of its prey, otherwise, from the slowness of its 
motion, a matter of difficulty. This appears to 
be confirmed by a fact observed by an intelligent 
missionary, who saw a large snake, whose head 
was of the size of that of a calf, fishing on the 
banks of a river. The first thing it did was to 
discharge a large quantity of foam from its mouth 
into the river; then thrusting his head into the 
water, he kept it very quiet, till a great number 
of small fishes were attracted and inebriated by 
the foam, when, suddenly opening his jaws, he 
swallowed them at once, and then proceeded to re- 
commence his operation. 

The diversity of climate, and variety of aspect, 
of the many and extended territories which form 
the viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres, afford a com- 
mensurate profusion and variety in their vegetable 
productions; and it is not practicable for the most 
skilful botanist and most active observer to enu- 
merate one half of them: in this work, therefore, 
it is only some of the most remarkable that can be 



490 Algarova. 

described, in which no particular order will be ob- 
served, whether the objects under investigation 
grow on the banks of the /Plata, or in the moun- 
tains of Peru; in the marshes of upper Paraguay, 
or on the plains of the Pampas. 

The algarova is a large tree, of the size of an oak, 
that abounds in Tucuman and Paraguay, but to 
the south it dwindles into a shrub, not more than 
a yard in height. Its timber is strong, durable, 
and coarse grained. The leaves are small and 
scalloped. The flowers are little, of a dingy 
white, and grow in clusters. They are succeeded 
by large and long pods, of which there are two 
kinds, white and black. Before the fruit is arrived at 
maturity it is strongly astringent; when ripe it is 
uncommonly sweet, but has a strong unpleasant 
smell, like that of bugs. The inhabitants make a 
considerable harvest of this fruit, which they re- 
duce to flour, and sometimes mix it with that of 
maize: it is then diluted with water for immediate 
use; but, when intended to be kept, it is not 
mixed, but being very gummy is pressed into 
cakes or square boxes. Chica is made of the pods 
bruised ; and a great quantity of proof spirit might 
be drawn from it. There is another species of this 
tree, probably the acacia arabica, the flowers of 
which are of a fine yellow, and very aromatic. 
The pods are thicker, very black, with seeds like 
lentils, but harder. They have a gummy quality, 
a strong astringent taste; and with copperas make 
a very fine black dye. The wood is more firm, 



Molie, QuluhrahacJw. 



491 



and its colour is of a deeper red. A gum distils 
from it, exactly similar to the common gum ara- 
bic. There is a third sort, not so lofty, the pod 
of which is of a dull red; it is neither astringent 
nor sweet, but the natives make a kind of chica 
of it, with which they cure the lues venerea. Its 
operation is sudorific. 

The molie is a great tree which does not grow 
more to the south than the province of Tucuman. 
The timber is of a very fine grain, and extremely 
beautiful, but very subject to be wormeaten. 
There are two sorts of it, distinguished by the 
leaves of one being larger than those of the other. 
They are both evergreens, and their leaves when 
bruised, are used to tan the fine goatskin-leather, 
made in Tucuman. A considerable quantity of 
gum distils from the trunk, winch is used as in- 
cense, being very odoriferous. The larger leaved 
molie bears great plenty of a black fruit, which, 
when ripe, is inclosed in a pellicle of a very light 
blue colour. It is about the size of a currant 3 
and sweeter than the fruit of the algarova. Very 
sweet syrup is extracted from it ; and it makes 
chica much stronger than that of the algarova, 
both in taste and smell. 

The white and red quiabrahacho, or break-axe, 
so called from their extreme hardness, grow mostly 
in the forests to the north of Cordova. The for- 
mer has leaves resembling box, but somewhat 
larger, with a sharp thorny point ; and the timber 
is also like boxwood, but of a red colour at the 



492 Lapacfho. P 'me -trees. 

heart. It is very good timber, of a fine grain, 
but very brittle, hard to work, and exceedingly 
heavy. The red quiabrahacho has leaves like 
those of the yew-tree; it grows loftier, and its 
timber is yet heavier than the other. It is as red 
as blood, and can only be worked when green, 
for, after it has been kept some time, it becomes 
so very hard that no tool can touch it. In hard- 
ness and colour it bears so strong a resemblance to 
red marble, that it is difficult to distinguish them 
by sight. 

The lapacho is a very valuable timber-tree. It 
is sent to Spain in balks four and five and twenty 
feet in length, for the use of the oil-mills. It is 
of a dusky green colour, has a good grain, and is 
not brittle, but is very hard and heavy. The 
wild walnut-trees are very large and lofty. Some 
brought from Tucuman, worked and squared, mea- 
sured thirty-six feet in length. They bear no fruit. 
The lanza is a tree so called because the natives 
make their lances of it. It is of a yellow colour, 
very strait, is excellent timber, and makes the best 
possible axle-trees. 

The pine-trees, that grow in the hilly parts of 
Cuyo, are very large and lofty. The timber is 
solid and hard, very white, and makes excellent 
masts. The pine-nuts are as big as dates, and 
have a very slender shell. The fruit is long and 
thick, with four blunt corners, as big as two al- 
monds. By boiling, the kernels are made into 
provision for the journies of the natives. Pre- 



LahuaL Gums. 



493 



pared in this manner, they are rather mealy, and 
taste somewhat like a boiled almond, but not so 
oily. This tree produces a considerable quantity 
of turpentine, which dries into a mass harder 
than resin, but much more clear and transparent, 
though not so yellow. The Spaniards call it in- 
cense, and use it as such; but it has no more fra- 
grance than common resin. 

There is a tree peculiar to the country of the 
Huilliches, which the Indians call lahual, and the 
Spaniards alerce. It is of the fir-kind, but its 
most remarkable quality is the convenience with 
which it may be split into boards. The trunk is 
marked by nature with strait lines from top to 
bottom, so that by cleaving it with wedges, it 
may be parted into very strait planks of any thick- 
ness, in a better and smoother manner than if 
sawn. It grows to a great size, and is reckoned 
by the Indians the most valuable timber they 
have, both for beauty and duration. As the 
climate in which it grows is similar to that of 
England, it is probable that it would thrive here. 

Various medicinal gums exude from different 
trees. Guaicum, dragon's blood, the balsam of 
caaci, that called aquaribaigh, and gum isica, are 
productions of more or less abundance, and of 
greater or smaller estimation, throughout the 
woody parts of the country. Valerian, me urn, 
salsapariila, an aromatic and pungent root called 
schynant, ginger, and a great variety of others 
of spontaneous growth, abound in most parts, 



49^ Herb of 

And extensive forests of the tree producing the 
Chinchona, or Jesuit's bark, are found in Los 
Charcas, and along the Peruvian Cordillera. 

The tea, or herb of Paraguay, is the leaf of a 
species of ilex, about the size of a middling apple- 
tree. It tastes, when green, like mallow-leaves; and 
in shape it nearly resembles the leaf of the orange- 
tree. The seeds are like those of the ivy. The 
leaves are roasted or dried, and almost pulverized, 
before they are packed up. There are three kinds 
of it in its prepared state, though produced but 
by one plant. Caa is the distinctive Indian appel- 
lation of the plant; and the three sorts are called 
caa-cuys, caa-mini, and caa-guazu, the last being 
denominated by the Spaniards yerva de palos* 
The caa-cuys is the first bud of the leaf, when 
scarcely developed ; the caa-mini is the full-grown 
leaf stript off from its ribs before roasting; and 
the caa-guazu is that roasted without any prepa- 
ration. The caa-cuys will not bear transportation, 
nor will it keep so long as the other two sorts* 
which are sent in great quantities from Paraguay 
to Tucuman, Peru, and Chili. The aromatic bit- 
terness which the herb possesses, when prepared, 
is more powerful on the spot where it grows, and 
is partly dissipated by carriage. The principal 
harvest of this herb is made in the eastern part of 
Paraguay, and about the mountains of Maracayu, 
but it is cultivated in the marshy valiies that in- 
tervene between the hills, and not on the emi- 
nences themselves. The people of South America 



Paraguay* ¥)5 

boast of innumerable virtues, which they attribute 
to this plant. It is certainly aperient and diu- 
retic; but the other qualities ascribed to it are 
doubtful. It is used by infusion. Few of the 
chapetones use it, but the Creoles are passionately 
fond of it, and never travel without a supply of 
it. They never fail to drink the infusion at every 
meal, and never eat till they have taken some of 
this favourite beverage. It is not drank in the 
same manner as tea in Europe: the herb is put 
into a calabash, which is fixed upon a stand, and 
generally mounted with silver: this they call mate. 
They most usually sweeten it with sugar, but 
they sometimes add lemon-juice. Boiling water 
is then poured on it, and it is drank off directly, 
for, if suffered to remain long, the liquor would 
become as black as ink. To avoid swallowing the 
pulverized herb itself, which swims on the sur- 
face, they use a silver pipe called bombilla, the 
top of which is perforated with several holes, 
through which they suck the liquor. A whole 
party is supplied by handing round the same bowl 
and pipe from one to another, and filling up the 
vessel with hot water as fast as it is drank out. 
The repugnance of F.uropeans to drink after all 
sorts of people, in a country where syphilitic dis- 
eases are very prevalent, has occasioned the intro- 
duction of small glass pipes, with which each 
person is sometimes provided. In the mine-coun- 
tries the use of this herb is more particularly uni- 
versal from the opinion that prevails amongst the 



/ 



496 Tea- plant. Coca. 

Spaniards, that the wines there are prejudicial to 
health. Like opium, it produces some singular 
and contrary effects ; it gives sleep to the restless, 
and spirit to the torpid. Those who have once 
contracted the habit of taking it, do not find it an 
easy matter to leave it off, or even to use it in 
moderation, though, when taken to excess, it 
brings on similar disorders to those which are 
produced by the immoderate use of strong li- 
quors. 

A shrub grows at the foot of the mountains of 
Cordova and Yacanto, in other parts of Tucu- 
man, and on the borders of Peru, which either 
bears a strong resemblance to, or is the same with, 
the oriental tea-plant. It is imperfectly described 
as a shrub, growing from three to six feet in 
height. The leaves are exactly similar to those 
of tea, and the infusion of them, when dried, has 
precisely the same qualities ; in colour and taste 
resembling green tea, though not quite so rough 
upon the palate. In drying it could not be made 
to twist or shrivel like the Chinese tea. The 
flowers are blue, and grow in a long spike, like 
lavender, but are not so well scented. There is 
another species of it in Chili, the flowers of 
which are yellow, and do not grow in a spike. 
The inhabitants of Cordova call the plant alvan- 
hacca del campo, or wild basil, but it bears no 
resemblance to basil, either wild or cultivated. 

The coca is a plant of Peru and Popayan, 
though a considerable quantity is gathered in the 



Calaguala. 497 

district of Sicacica. It is the same as the betel 
of the East Indies, and is used by the natives in 
the same manner, being chewed with lime. It is 
prohibited to be used in the northern parts of 
Peru, but is permitted to all who work in the 
mines; as it is considered by the Indians as the 
only means by which they are enabled to support 
the heavy labour they undergo. 

The paramos, or heathy deserts of the Cordil- 
lera, produce many plants of great utility; but 
none more so than the ichu or rushy grass, which 
forms the chief food of the lamas and pacos; 
Amongst their other productions are the cala- 
guala, which is celebrated for its virtues. Its 
height is about six or eight inches, and it spreads 
its thin stems along the sands, or climbs up the 
rocks. These stems resemble the fibres of the 
roots of other* plants, being not above two or 
three lines in their greatest thickness, round, and 
full of little knots. This plant is of singular be- 
nefit for all kinds of abcesses, internal or external. 
It is administered in a decoction, of which a- very 
little serves, or after bruising, infused in such 
wines as will best correct its bitterness. In three 
or four days its good effects are conspicuous, and 
it must then be left off; for, being extremely hot, 
it would prove pernicious, if taken in a larger quan- 
tity than absolutely necessary. The contrayerva 
grows in the same places, but is very little sought 
after in the country. A curious plant is also found 
there, which is called palo de luz, or torch? WQjid. 

2 K 



49 S Torch'KOod* Bejuc&s* 

It is commonly about the height of two feet, and 
consists of several stalks, which proceed from the 
same root. They are strait and smooth up to the 
top, whence grow little branches, with very small 
leaves. These stalks are cut down close to the 
ground , where they are about three lines hi dia- 
meter; and being kindled when green, give a light 
equal to that of a torch; they burn slowly, but 
should be snuffed with care. 

The bejucos are a species of ligneous cordage of 
great length, and of different dimensions, from 
the fourth part of an inch in diameter to eighteen 
inches in circumference. They are very numerous, 
in the interior forests of Los Chareas, and are 
seen mounting to the tops of the highest trees, 
descending to . the earth, again taking root, and 
mounting up the next tree, sometimes passing 
from the top branches of one to tkose of another: 
thus Communicating from tree to tree to- a great 
distance, in oblique, horizontal, perpendicular, 
and circular, directions, in inextricable entangle*- 
ment. Some ascend the trunks of trees in spiral 
circles, killing them by mere compression; and 
others are parasitical, and take root in the bark of 
trees, which are thus weakened, and sometimes 
destroyed, by the nourishment thus diverted into 
the bejaco. They are remarkably flexile, and 
put to many uses. 

An extended catalogue might here be given of 
the numerous indigenous and imported produc- 
tions, which either grow wild, or are cultivated 



Fossile bones. 



499 



with more or less attention, throughout these im- 
mense territories; but it must suffice to say, that 
every variety of tropical and European fruits, 
pulse, grain, and flowers, are yielded in larger or 
smaller quantities* and of superior or inferior qua- 
lity, in different parts, and have been generally 
noticed in the local descriptions of the provinces 
and districts. 

Before quitting the subject of natural history, 
the stupendous fossile bones that have been found 
in different parts of South America, require to be 
mentioned. Although neither the elephant nor 
the rhinoceros exist in these regions, bones have 
been found on the banks of the Rio Tercero, and 
of the Parana and Paraguay, and in some parts of 
Peru, w r hich must either have belonged to those 
animals, or to some of similar, or greater magni- 
tude. It is probable that, upon a more accurate in- 
spection, they will be found to belong to the same 
extinct species as those found in North America, 
to which the name of mammoth has been given. 
Some have supposed these bones to have been hu- 
man, and thigh bones, ribs, and even skulls, are 
stated to have been found of the most extraordinary 
size. Teeth three inches in diameter at the base, 
thought to be the dentes molares of a human 
being, were dug up on the banks of the Zarcaranna; 
and there exists a petrified tooth in the royal ca- 
binet at Madrid, sent from Peru, which weighs 
five pounds three ounces, and was* found in the 
department of Tarija. In the same district was 

9 K 2 



500 



Fossiie bones. 



dug up a petrified bone, resembling the ulna of 
a man, which measured six feet and five inches in 
length. A fanciful theorist has endeavoured to ac- 
count for the immense size of these relics, by the 
conjecture that it might be the effect of the re- 
peated supraposition of lapideons substances upon 
the body which served them as a basis, and exists of 
the natural size, as the nidus of these strata, in 
the centre of the petrifaction. 



301 



CHAP. XII. 

Historical review of the Spanish colonial commerce 
—Trade of Buenos Ayres with Spain — Exports 
Imports — Internal trade with Pent and Chili 
— Contraband trade, §c. — Remarks on the ad- 
vantages to Britain from the possession of Buenos 
Ayres, $c. — Conclusion. 

JN discussing the important subject of commerce, 
it will first be necessary to enter into a short 
historical review of the trade of Buenos Ayres, 
and of the policy and regulations of Spain with 
regard to the commercial intercourse of her co- 
lonies. 

One of the first objects of the Spanish mo- 
narchs was to secure the productions of the colo- 
nies to the parent-state, by an absolute prohibition 
of any intercourse with foreign nations. When 
the Spaniards first took possession of their domi- 
nions in America, the precious metals which they 
yielded formed the only object that attracted their 
attention. Even when their efforts began to take 
a better direction, they employed themselves aU 
most wholly in rearing such peculiar productions 
of the climate as, from their rarity or value, were 
of chief demand in the mother-country. Allured 
by prospects of vast and immediate wealth, they 

2 K 3 



60t Commercial policy 

disdained to waste their industry on what was less 
lucrative, but of superior moment. This funda? 
mental error was perpetuated and strengthened, by 
regulations which were designed to prevent them 
from making any efforts in industry, which might 
interfere with those of the? parent state* The 
establishment of several kinds of manufacture, 
and even, at one time, {he culture of the vine and 
the olive, were prohibited in the Spanish colonies, 
under severe penalties. For all objects of primary 
necessity, they had to trust entirely to the mo^ 
ther-country. Their clothes, their furniture, their 
instruments of labour, their luxuries, and even a 
considerable part of the provisions they consumed, 
were imported from Spain. The produce of their 
mines and plantations was given in exchange for 
these ; but all that tjie cplonies received, as well 
as all that they gave, was conveyed in Spanish 
bottoms ; no vessel belonging to the colonies was 
permitted to carry the produce of America to Eu- 
rope; and even the commercial intercourse of one 
colony with another? was either entirely prohi- 
bited, or fettered by many jealous restrictions, 
This system has been always acted upon with 
more or less rigour, and it may generally be stated, 
that all that Spanish America yields is supposed tq 
flow into tjie ports, of Spain, anc} all that it con* 
sumes, to issue from them. Np foreigner can, 
enter Jier colonies without express permission; no 
vessel of any foreign nation is received into their 
harbours j and the pains pf death, and confiscation, 



of Spain. 30.3 

of property, are denounced against every inhabit- 
ant who presumes to trade with them. The co- 
lonies were thus kept in a state of perpetual pu- 
pillage-; and none was in consequence more inju- 
riously depressed than the establishment .of Buenos 
Ayres. Possessing intrinsically neither gold nor 
silver, indigo nor cochineal; deprived of every 
spur to industry and agriculture, it long lan- 
guished in a state of mediocrity, ill-suited to its 
important station,, and its territorial resources; 
and had it not been for the fortuitous branch of 
commerce, which the multiplication of the cattle 
in its plains offered to the inhabitants, it might 
have dwindled into total insignificance, or have 
been wholly abandoned. 

No spirit is more adverse to those improvements 
in agriculture and commerce, which render nations 
really opulent, than the rage for mining, which 
prevails in most of the Spanish settlements. In* 
vited by the prospect of acquiring wealth with 
facility, and encouraged by some striking exarn^ 
pies of success in this line of adventure, not only 
the sanguine and the bold, but the timid and the 
diffident, enter it with astonishing ardour. The 
charms of this pursuit, like the rage for deep play, 
are so bewitching, and take such full possession of 
the mind as to <nve a new bent to the natural 
temper. Under its influence the cautious become 
enterprising, and the covetous profuse. Poweiv 
ful as this charm naturally is, its force is aug- 
mented by the arts of an order of men known in 

2 k 4 



504 Commercial policy 

Peru by the cant name of searchers ; these ar§ 
commonly persons of desperate fortunes, who, 
possessed of some skill in mineralogy, accompanied 
with the insinuating manners and confident pre-? 
tensions natural to projectors, address the wealthy 
and the credulous. By plausible descriptions of 
the appearances they have discovered of rich veins 
hitherto unexplored ; by producing, when requU 
site, specimens of promising ore ; by affirming, 
with imposing assurance, that success is certain, 
and that the expense must be trifling, they seldom 
fail to persuade. An association is formed, a 
small sum is advanced by each copartner, the 
mine is opened, the searcher is entrusted with the 
sole direction of every operation, unforeseen diffir 
culties occur, new demands of money are made, 
but amidst a succession of disappointments and 
delays, hope is never extinguished, and the ardour 
of expectation hardly abates. 

Yet in the Spanish colonies government has 
oeen studious to cherish a spirit which it should 
have laboured to depress ; and to this may be im? 
puted the slender progress which Spanish Ame^ 
rica has made, either in useful manufactures or in 
those lucrative branches of cultivation, which fur? 
nish the colonies of other nations with their staple 
commodities. 

But though mines are the chief objects of the 
Spaniards, and the precious metals which they 
yield form the principal article in their American 
commerce, the fertile countries which they possess 



of Spain. 605 

abound with other commodities of such value, or 
scarcity, as to attract a considerable degree of at- 
tention. Cochineal, indigo, cocoa, Jesuit's bark, 
hides, sugar, cotton, and dye-woods, are the prin* 
cipal. When the importation into Spain of those 
various articles from her colonies first became ac- 
tive and considerable, her interior industry and 
manufactures were in a state so prosperous, that 
with the produce of these, she was able, both to 
purchase the commodities of the new world, and to 
answer its growing demands. Under the reigns of 
Ferdinand and Isabella,and CharlesV. Spain was one 
of the most industrious countries of Europe ; her 
manufactures in wool, and flax, and silk, were so 
extensive as to furnish sufficient both for her own 
consumption and for exportation. When a market 
for them, formerly unknown, and to which she 
alone had access, opened in America, she had re- 
course to her domestic store, and found there an 
abundant supply. But the effects arising from 
the sudden influx of riches destroyed the pro- 
sperity which might, under other circumstances, 
have been expected. The same thing happens to 
nations as to individuals. Wealth which flows 
in gradually and with moderate increase, feeds 
and nourishes that activity which is friendly to 
commerce, and calls it forth into vigourous and 
well-conducted exertion; but when opulence pours 
in suddenly, and with too full a stream, it over- 
turns all sober plans of industry, and induces a 
taste for what is wild and extravagant in business 



506 Commercial policy 

and in action. By the extensive projects of am* 
bition, which Philip II. entertained from the high 
opinion he possessed of his own resources, and 
by the great and complicated operations he pur-? 
sued with ardour during a long reign, Spain was 
drained both of men and money. The weak ad- 
ministration and inconsiderate bigotry of his sue* 
cessor augmented the evil ; jancl early in the seven- 
teenth century, Spain was compelled to contract 
her operations ; her flourishing manufactures were 
fallen into decay; her fleets were ruined; her exr 
tensive foreign commerce was, lost; the trade be- 
tween different parts of her own dominions was 
interrupted ; and her ships were taken and plun- 
dered by enemies whom she once despised. Even 
agriculture, the primary object of industry in 
every prosperous state, was neglected, and one of 
the most fertile countries of Europe scarcely raised 
a sufficiency for the support of the diminished 
numbers of its inhabitants. 

In proportion as the population and manufao 
tares of Spain declined, the demands of her co- 
lonies continued to increase; but Spain, thinned 
of people and decreasing in industry, was unable 
to supply them ; and the manufactures of the 
Netherlands, of England, of France, arid of Italy, 
which her wants called into existence, or animated 
with new vivacity, furnished in abundance whatr 
-ever was required. In vain did the fundamental 
law, excluding foreigners from participating in the 
trade with America, oppose this innovation. Ne- 



fjf Spain. 507 

cessity, more powerful than any statute, defeated 
its operations, and constrained the Spaniards them* 
selves to concur in eluding it. The contraband 
trade with Spanish America has been a source of 
wealth to other nations, and even an object of con- 
tention and of treaty between them. The Eng- 
lish, the French, the Dutch, the Portuguese, and 
now also the Anglo-Americans, relying on the ho- 
nour and fidelity of the Spanish merchants, who 
lend their names to cover the deceit, send their 
manufactures and produce to the Spanish colonies, 
and receive the exorbitant price for which they 
are sold, either in specie or in the rich commodi- 
ties of )the ne>v world. Neither the dread of dan- 
ger, nor the allurement of profit, can induce a 
Spanish factor to betray or defraud the person who 
confided in him ; and that probity, which is the 
pride and distinction of the nation, thus contri- 
butes to its impoverishment and decay. 

The treasures of the new world may therefore 
be said not to belong to Spain ; before they reach 
Europe, they are anticipated as the price of goods 
purchased from foreigners. The fatal effects of 
fhe disproportion between their demands and her 
ability to answer them, have been much increased 
by the mode in which Spain endeavoured to regu- 
late the intercourse between the mother-country 
and the colonies. In order to secure the mono- 
poly, at which she aimed, Spain did not vest the 
trade with her colonies in an exclusive company, 
a plan which has been adopted by nations more 



50 S Commercial policy 

commercial, and persevered in, in periods when mer- 
cantile policy ought to be better understood. But 
the system which she pursued was fraught with 
all the errors and defects of exclusive companies, 
and attended with none of their advantages. The 
high ideas which she early formed of the riches of 
the new world, were the occasion of this system. 
Gold and silver were commodities of too precious 
a nature to vest a monopoly of them in private 
hands ; and the crown, wishing to retain the direcr 
tion of a commerce so inviting, ordained the 
cargo of every ship fitted out for America to be 
inspected by the casa de la contratacion in Seville, 
before she could receive a license to make the 
voyage; and that, on her return, a report of the 
commodities which she brought, should be made 
to the same board, before they were permitted to 
be landed. In consequence of this regulation all 
the trade of Spain with the new world centered in 
the port of Seville, till the year 1720, when the 
galleons and the flota sailed from Cadiz, a port 
more commodious than the other. For the greater 
security of the valuable cargoes sent to Apierica, 
as well as for the more easy prevention of fraud, 
this commerce was carried on by fleets, annually n 
equipped, which sailed under strong convoys ; 
consisting of two squadrons, one distinguished by 
the name of the galleons, and the other by that of 
the flota. These expeditions were made exclus- 
ively to the gulph of Mexico, and it was through 
the ports of Forto Bello and Vera Cruz alone, that 



of Spain. dQ9 

the whole of the dominions of Spain were supplied 
with European commodities, or found a vent for 
their own productions. Buenos Ayres, in those 
times, debarred from all direct commercial inter- 
course with Europe, remained in obscurity ; and 
though the contraband trade with the Portuguese 
of St. Sacrament .often interrupted, but ahvays re- 
newed, gave it indeed some degree of activity, it 
was not till the dawn of a more enlightened po- 
licy began to prevail in Spain, that it assumed, in 
some degree, its appropriate station of a commer- 
cial emporium. 

The Spanish colonial trade, thus cramped and 
fettered, came necessarily to be conducted with 
the same spirit, and upon the same principles, as 
that of an exclusive company. Being confined to 
a single port, it was of course thrown into the 
hands of a few wealthy merchants. These, by 
combinations and acting in concert, were enabled 
to raise or lower the value of commodities at 
pleasure. In consecpience of this, the prices of 
European goods were always high, and often ex- 
orbitant. One, two, and even three hundred per 
cent, were profits not uncommon in the commerce 
of Spain with her colonies. Instead of furnish- 
ing the colonies with European articles in quan- 
tities adequate to their consumption at a moderate 
profit, the merchants of Seville and Cadiz seem 
to have supplied them with a sparing hand, in 
order that the eagerness of competition amongst 
customers, obliged to purchase in a scanty mar- 



310 Commercial policy 

ket, might enable the Spanish factors to dispose of 
their cargoes at an excessive profit. About the 
middle of the seventeenth century* when the ex- 
clusive trade to America from Seville was in its 
most flourishing state, the united burthen of the 
two squadrons of the galleons and the flota, did 
not exceed twenty-seven thousand five hundred 
tons. The supply which that tonnage could 
carry, must have been very inadequate to the de- 
mands of those extensive colonies, which depended 
upon it for all the luxuries and many of the neces- 
saries of life* 

But feeble are the barriers of fiscal regulation, 
and vain the efforts of jealous monopoly, to pre- 
^ vent that mutual supply of wants which nature 
dictates, and mankind will alleviate, maugre all the 
restrictions, the dangers, and the difficulties, which 
may be thrown in their way. From the Antilles 
on one side, and by interlopers in the: South sea 
on the other, SouthAmerica was provided in abund- 
ance with European commodities, and when the 
galleons arrived they often found the markets sa 
glutted by this illicit commerce, that there was no 
demand for their cargoes. The necessity occasioned 
by political events, in which Spain found herself, tor 
give some kind of access to her transatlantic pos- 
sessions to foreigners, added considerably to the 
extent and value of the contraband trade. The 
English and Dutch, by the superiority of their 
naval power, had, during the war of the succes- 
sion, acquired such dominion at sea, as to cut off 



of Spain, 5\i 

all intercourse between Spain and her colonies, 
and in order to famish her subjects in America 
with those necessaries, without which they could 
not exist, and as the only means of receiving thence 
any part of their treasures, she departed so far 
from the usual rigour of her maxims, as to open 
the trade with Peru to her allies the French. The 
merchants of St. Malo, to whom Louis XIV. 
granted this lucrative privilege, engaged in it 
with vigour, and carried it on upon principles 
very different from those of the Spaniards. They 
supplied Peru with European goods at a moderate 
price, and not in a stinted quantity. The goods 
which they imported were conveyed to every pro- 
vince of Spanish America in such abundance as 
had never been known at any former period ; and 
this intercourse was deemed so prejudicial, that, 
at the cessation of the war, the most peremptory 
injunctions were issued, prohibiting the further 
admission of any foreign vessels into the ports of 
Peru and Chili, and a Spanish squadron was em- 
ployed to clear the South sea of intruders, whose 
aid was no longer necessary. 

But though Spain thus obtained relief from one 
encroachment on her commercial system, the 
treaty of Utrecht exposed her to another, which 
she deemed scarcely less pernicious. As an in- 
ducement for Queen Anne to conclude a peace, 
Philip V. not only conveyed to Great Britain the 
assiento, or contract for supplying the Spanish 
colonies with negroes, which had formerly been 



•512 Assi&nto-freattj. \ 

enjoyed by France, but conceded in addition othe¥ 
valuable privileges, which tended most materially 
to her injury, and were not abolished but by a 
subsequent war* which their operation principally 
occasioned* 

The first assiento was made in 1702, with the 1 
French Guinea company* for furnishing the Spa-? 
nish dominions in America with negro-slaves. 
The number they engaged to furnish was 3800 
annually, during the continuance of the war about: 
the succession, and 4800 in time of peace, paying 
a duty of 334 piastres for every negro. Destitute 
of establishments on the coast of Africa, inexpe- 
rienced in mercantile operations, and participating 
in the misfortunes that befell their country during 
a long war, the French were unable to execute 
any part of their contract. By the treaty of 
Utrecht, the assiento was transferred to the Eng- 
lish, and the South Sea Company undertook to 
furnish annually during the thirty years, from 
1713 to 174-3, that their contract was to continue, 
at least 4800 negroes ; they were limited to that 
number for the five last years of their term, but 
were allowed for the first twenty-five years to in- 
troduce as many as they could dispose of. For 
the first four thousand of their annual supply, they 
were to pay the same duty as the French had done, 
but were exonerated from that on the remain- 
ing eight hundred, in consideration of a loan of 
200,000 piastres, advanced to the court of Ma- 
drid, which was to be repaid in ten years; and* 



Assienlo-treaiy \ 6 1-3 

for all the negroes which they furnished beyond 
the stipulated number they were to pay one half of 
the duty ; whilst Philip V. imdemnified himself 
for the sacrifices he made on this occasion* by re- 
serving to the crown of Spain, a right to one- 
fourth of the net profits to be made by the as- 
siento. 

But the privilege which swerved most diame- 
trically from the established commercial policy 
of Spain, was that by which the English South 
Sea Company were authorized to send annually a 
ship of 500 tons, and for the first ten years one of 
650 tons, to the fair of Porto Bello, and to establish 
factories for the sale of their negroes at Cartha- 
gena, Panama, Vera Cruz, and Buenos Ayres* 
On the Rio de la Plata they were even empowered 
to erect houses, to take lands on leases in the 
neighbourhood of their factories, and to cultivate 
them either by imported negroes or hired Indians. 
At Panama they were allowed to freight vessels 
of four hundred tons, for the conveyance of their 
negroes to the coast of Peru, to equip them b to ap- 
point the officers, and to receive by them their re- 
turns either in gold or silver, or in the productions 
of the country, paying neither duties of import 
nor of export. The agents of a rival nation resid- 
ing in the towns of most extensive trade and of 
chief resort, had the best opportunities of becom- 
ing acquainted with the interior condition of the 
American provinces, of observing their stated and 
occasional wants, and of knowing what commodi* 

2 L 



514 Commercial policy 

ties might be imported into them with the greaf« 
est advantage. In consequence of information so 
authentic and expeditious, the British merchants 
were enabled to proportion their cargoes, so ex- 
actly to the demands, that the contraband com- 
merce was carried on with a facility and to an ex- 
tent formerly unknown ; and, partly by the opera- 
tions of the company, and partly by the activity 
of private interlopers, almost the whole trade of 
Spanish America was engrossed by them. The 
commerce of the galleons sunk to nothing ; the 
annual squadron dwindled from fifteen thousand 
to two thousand tons, and served scarcely any 
other purpose than to fetch home the royal re- 
venues. 

Spain observed these encroachments, felt their 
pernicious effects, and made some efforts to re- 
strain them. Ships of force under the appellation 
of guarda-costas were stationed on those coasts, 
to which interlopers most frequently resorted, 
gome check was by this means given to the pro- 
gress of th r contraband trade, though in domi- 
nions so extensive, and accessible by sea, hardly 
any number of cruisers was sufficient to guard 
against its inroads in every quarter. This inter- 
ruption of an intercourse which had been carried 
oit with so much facility, that the British colonies 
were accustomed to consider it as almost an* al- 
lowed branch of trade,, excited murmurs and com- 
plaints. The bickerings and jealousies that en- 
sued, added to several unjustifiable acts of violence 



of Spain, 515 

committed by the commanders of the Spanish 
gtiarda-costas, at length broke out into hostilities 
between Great Britain and Spain in 1739, and put 
an end to the enjoyment of the assiento trade by 
the South Sea Company. 

As the successive formidable encroachments of 
the merchants of St. Malo, and those of Britain 
on the American trade had discovered to the 
Spaniards the vast consumption of European 
commodities in their colonies, and taught them 
the advantage of accommodating their importa- 
tions to the occasional demands of the various 
provinces, they perceived the necessity of devising 
some method of supplying their colonies differ- 
ent from the ancient one by periodical .fleetSc 
The minister Ensenada succeeded in overcoming 
the various obstacles and prejudices that were 
opposed to the innovation, and, in 1740* permitted 
a considerable part of the American trade to be 
carried on by register-ships. These were fitted 
out during the intervals between the stated seasons 
when the galleons and flota sailed, by merchants 
in Seville or Cadiz, upon obtaining a license from 
the council of the Indies, for which they paid a 
very high premium, and sailed to those ports in 
America, where any extraordinary demand existed 
or was foreseen. By this expedient, a more regu- 
lar supply was conveyed to the American market, 
and interlopers were not so much allured by 
prospects of excessive gain. Buenos Ayres re- 
ceived a portion of the benefit arising from this 
2 L 2 



516 Register ships. 

regulation ; and an accession of population and 
prosperity also accrued to the settlement in 1740, 
by the disasters which had befallen a considerable 
squadron of Spanish men of war, which had been 
dispatched to repel the attacks of the British under 
commodore Anson, but which, unable to double 
cape Horn, buffeted and discomfited by the ele- 
ments, were, for the most part, compelled to put 
into the Plata, in a shattered and disabled state, 
whilst only one of the vessels composing the squa- 
dron was enabled to return to Spain. The troops 
and crews of this squadron settled in the country, 
an opportunity of being recalled being denied 
them, from the interrupted and precarious nature 
of the intercourse existing at the time between 
Buenos Ayres and Spain. 

In proportion as experience manifested the 
advantages of prosecuting the trade by register- 
ships, their number was increased, and in 1748 
the galleons and the flota were laid aside after hav- 
ing been employed for two centuries ; and pe- 
riodical fleets have only been since resorted to by 
Spain in time of war, and when the protection of 
strong convoys has been deemed necessary. That 
year was also marked by a pacification between 
(Jreat Britain and Spain, by which the assiento 
trade was restored to the English, but the South 
Sea Company was induced by an indemnification 
offered to them to give up the four remaining 
years of their term ; and Spain was left at liberty 
to regulate the commerce of her colonies without 



Trade with Spain. 517 

being restrained by any engagement with a foreign 
power. 

At Buenos Ayres, however, the British factory 
for the furnishing of negroes was continued, under 
the cover of a Spanish name, by the wealth and 
enterprise of Robert Mayne, an eminent London 
merchant, whose family have till lately occupied 
a distinguished place amongst the merchants of 
Cadiz. By the infidelity, or the negligence, how- 
ever, of his agents at Buenos Ayres, the trade de- 
clined, the profits ceased, losses accrued, and in 
1752 he was compelled to abandon his establish- 
ment, and the supply of negroes to South Ame- 
rica fell into other promiscuous hands. 

Of the nature of the trade as then carried on 
between Buenos Ayres and Spain, an idea may be 
formed by the following estimate of the value in 
Europe of the cargoes dispatched from the Plata 
from 1748 to 17«53. These were calculated at an 
annual average of 1,620,752 piastres : of which 
Gold in ingots to the amount of piastres 282,352 
Silver, coined and uncoined - 700,000 
300 quintals of vicunna-wool - 38,400 
1 50,000 hides - - - - 600,000 

total - 1,620,752 

It is only the last item that was the proper pro- 
duction of the country, the rest coming from 
Peru and Chili; but the whole being on account 
of the merchants, and nothing for the king. 

In the same years, Spain received from Lima for 
2 l 3 



318 Imports and exports. 

the whole of Peru, to the annual average value of 

,5,697, 1*51 piastres: of which 

In gold - - - piastres 850,776 

In silver - 3,828,455 

4,679,231 

31,000 quintals cocoa - 600,000 
600 do. Jesuit's bark - 38,400 
470 do. vicunna-wool 60,000 
10,850 . do. copper - - 150,020 
10,600 do, tin -> - - 169,500 

■ .1,017,920 



total - 5,697,151 



Of the gold and silver, 300,000 piastres were 
on account of the king, 3,596,691 on account of 
the merchants, and 7S 2,440 on account of the 
clergy and civil and military officers of govern-* 
ment. 

Of the other articles, 255,846 piastres were on 
account of the king, and 762,074 on account of 
the merchants. 

In the eleven years, from the 1st of January, 
1754, to the 31st December, 1764, the quantity 
of gold and silver received by Spain from Buenos 
Ayres, was, 
2,142,626 piastres in gold, 
10,326,090 do. in silver, 
and from Lima, 10,942,846 piastres in gold, 
24,868,745 do. in silver. 



Packet-hoats. 



519 



Whilst Spain adhered with rigour to her ancient 
maxims relative to her American commerce, she 
was so much afraid of opening any channel by 
which an illicit trade might find admission into 
the colonies, that she almost shut herself out from 
any intercourse with them but by her periodical 
fleets. There was no establishment for the regular 
communication of intelligence, either public or 
private, and Spain often received from foreigners 
her first information with respect to very inter- 
esting events in her own colonies. But in the 
year 176*4 packef-boats were appointed to be di- 
spatched every month from Corunna to the Ha- 
vannah or Porto Rjco, and every two months to 
Rio de la Plata. With this new arrangement, a 
scheme for extending; commerce has been also con- 
nected. Each of the packet-boats, which are 
vessels of some considerable burthen, is allowed 
to take in half a cargo of such commodities as are 
the product of Spain, and most in demand in the 
ports whither they are bound, and, in return for 
these, they may bring home an equal quantity of 
American productions. This may be considered 
as^the first relaxation of those rigid laws, which 
confined the trade with the new world to a single 
port; and it was soon followed by one more deci- 
sive. In 1765 the trade to the windward islands 
was laid open to every province of Spain, and this 
privilege was soon after extended to Louisiana, 
Yucatan, and Campeachy, The year 1774 was 
the epoch -of another judicious innovation ; the in- 
% h 4t 



Imports 

terdiction which existed on the commercial inter- 
course between several of the American provinces 
was taken off, and most of them were allowed that 
free intercourse which is indispensable for the 
supply of mutual wants, and for the participation 
of local advantages. In fine, in 1778, under the 
ministry of Galvez, more material alterations were 
made, and seven of the principal ports were per- 
mitted to engage in a free trade with Buenos Ayres 
and the ports of the South Sea. The benefit of 
these innovations was soon perceived and acknow- 
ledged, and was successively increased from that 
time to 1788, by the admission of five other ports 
to the same privileges, whilst, in 1785, the free 
trade was extended to the Spanish colonies in 
general. 

These measures, together with the establish- 
ment of the separate vice-royalty of Buenos Ayres 
in 1778, also a measure of the same minister, gave 
importance and stability to that settlement; and 
the following tables will shew the progressive in- 
crease of the imports and exports derived from 
the extension of the benefits of a free trade. 

Previously to 1778 no more than twelve or fif- 
teen registered vessels were engaged in the colo- 
nial trade to South America, and these seldom 
performed more than one voyage in three years, 
but in that year, the first of the establishment of 
these new regulations, one hundred and seventy 
vessels were freighted for South America, with 
ear-goes, of which the value in British money, di- 



and exports. 5% I 



stinguishing the amount in Spanish and in foreign 
produce, were as follows: viz. 



Ships. 


From 


Value of 
Spanish 
produce. 


Value of 
Foreign 
produce. 


Duties 
paid. 






£. 


<£. 


£. 


63 


Cadiz - - - 


332,701 


922,543 


66,926 


25 


Corimna - - 


69,691 


66,826 


7,184 


23 


Barcelona - - 


163,290 


52,513 


8,384 


34 


Malaga - - - 


85,637 


12,927 


3,618 


13 


St. Andero - - 


19,128 


99,807 


7,666 


3 


Alicant - - - 


5,299 


2,308 


328 


9 


Teneriffe - - 


30,165 




1,735 


170 




705,911 


1,156,924 


95,841 



The imports into Spain, from South America, 
in the same year were 



Ships. 


To 


Value of 

cargoes. 


Duties paid. 


57 


Cadiz - - - 


£ s. 
860,257 2 


£ s. 

24,388 7 


21 


Corunna - - 


68.3,328 6 


43,386 10 


25 


Barcelona - -. 


107,713 15 


1,931 15 


10 


Malaga - - 


24,745 14 


119 15 


8 


St. Andero - - 


114,852 9 


1,680 6 


8 


Alicant - - 


29,895 13 




6 


Teneriffe - - 


43,164 4 


2,779 18 


135 




1,863,957 3 


74,286 11 



52 f Imports 



T# 17S8, the exports to, and imports from* 
Spanish South America were 



Ports. 


Spanish 
produce 
exported. 


Foreign 
produce 
exported. 


" Total 
exports. 


Value of 
colonial im- 
ports. 




£. 


* 


£. 


£. 


Seville - - 


95,276 


14,342 


109,618 


3,249 


Cadiz - - 


2,981,311 


8,038,8 $ 


5,319,657 


18,382,886 


Malaga - - 


318,801 


- 33,684 


352,485 


296,738 


Barcelona - 


742,210 


52,083 


794,293 


886,162 


Corunna - 


249,838 


— — 


249,838 


2,040,400 


St. Sebastian 


9,114 


79,488 


88,602 


283,888 


Alfaquez - 


21,010 


300 


21,970 


0,231 


Gijon - - 


1,544 


28,300 


29,844 


16,052 


St. Andero 


127,072 


281,949 


409,021 


657,398 


Alicant 


13,564 


815 


14,379 


15,878 


Palma - - 


14,972 




14,972 


6,852 


Canaries 


55,264 


32,991 


88,255 


71,586 




3,930,576 


3,562,358 


7,492,934 


22,667,320 



So that the imports in that year exceeded the 
exports by the sum of ,£15,174,386. 

In 178S the duties on the exports and imports 
amounted to 1,386,423/. 14s. whereas in 1778 they 
produced only 169,032/. 5s. 

Notwithstanding these alleviations^ the com- 
mercial regulations of Spain, with respect to her 
colonies, are too rigid to be earned into complete 
execution. The legislature that loads trade with 
impositions too heavy, or fetters it by restrictions 



and exports. 593 

too severe, defeats its own intention, and only 
multiplies inducements to violate its statutes. 
The Spaniards, both in Europe and America, 
being circumscribed in their mutual intercourse 
by the jealousy of the crown, or oppressed by its 
exactions, have their invention continually on the 
stretch how to elude its edicts. The vigilance and 
ingenuity of private interest discover means of ef- 
fecting this, which public wisdom can not foresee, 
nor public authority prevent. This spirit, coun^ 
teracting that of the laws, pervades the commerce 
of Spain in all its branches, and descends from 
the highest departments in government to the 
lowest. The very officers appointed to check con- 
traband trade are often employed as instruments 
in carrying it on, and the boards instituted to re* 
strain and punish it are the channels through which 
it flows. The king is supposed, by the most intel- 
ligent Spanish writers, to be defrauded, by various 
artifices, of more than one half of the revenue 
which he ought to receive from America ; and it 
has been accurately calculated that, notwithstand^ 
ing the sacrifices made by government in the 
arrangements of 1778, and the subsequent years, 
the interloper has, upon an average, an advan- 
tage over the licensed trader of sixty-four per 
cent. 

The importation of negro-slaves to the settle-? 
merits on the Plata, which, since the failure of 
Mayne in 17*52, had been precarious, was, in 
1705, attempted to be supplied by a company of 



524 Imports 

Spanish, French, and Genoese merchants, estab- 
lished at Cadiz, to whom an assiento was granted; 
but, ill-conducted, or betrayed by their servants 
and factors, notwithstanding considerable relief 
granted them by the Spanish government in 1773, 
their operations languished and became ineffectual ; 
so that, in 1778, the crown having obtained the 
cession from the Portuguese of two of their islands 
on the coast of Africa, took the Guinea-trade en- 
tirely into its own hands; in which it is believed 
to have continued ever since, notwithstanding in 
1791 permissions, upon the payment of adequate 
premiums, were granted both to Spanish and to 
foreign merchants, to import negro- slaves into the 
ports in the Plata, and to export certain of the 
productions of the country in return. In 1793, 
the exportation of salted meat and tallow was al- 
lowed duty free. By these, and other similar en- 
couragements, the agriculture and industry of the 
provinces adjacent to Buenos Ayres have been 
considerably advanced, and their population in- 
creased. In 1792, no less than 825,609 hides 
were shipped for Spain alone, exclusive of those 
which were taken by such slave-ships as had 
sold their cargoes there, in pursuance of the per- 
mission mentioned above. 

In 1796, the imports and exports of Buenos 
Ayres were as follows: 

From Old Spain there arrived, 35 vessels from 
Cadiz; 22 from Barcelona, Malaga, and Alfa- 
quez; 9 from Corunna; 5 from St. Andero; one 



>4t 



piastres 
123,562 



and exports. S25 

from Vigo, and one from Gijon ; in all 63 vessels, 
the value of whose cargoes was 2,853,944 piastres, 
of which 1,705,866 were in Spanish produce, and 
1,148,078 in foreign articles, 
From Havannah, two ships brought 

22,159 arobes of sugar 

239 casks of brandy 

212 jars of honey 

258 arobes of cocoa 
1,864 arobes of white wax* 

750 varas of acana-wood 
From Lima and Guyaquil, two ships brought 
10,975 arobes of sugar 

200 salt-stones 
1,472 arobes of cocoa 

816 arobes of rice 

378 pounds of cinnamon^ 

990 pounds of indigo 

From the coast of Africa, 1350 negro-slaves 
were imported in four Spanish and five foreign 
ships. 

On the other hand, there sailed from Buenos 




50,154 



* Though Paraguay and Tucuman produce great quantities of 
wax and honey, so little has industry been encouraged, that even 
the simple process of bleaching wax is seldom resorted to, and 
what is wanted for the tapers and services of the churchy it appears, 
is imported from other places. 

•f The cinnamon of Peru has been asserted to be the same with 
that of Ceylon, but the pungency of its flavour, and other differ- 
ences, assimilate it to that called Chinese cinnamon, or cassia 



/ 



596 



Imports 



Ayres, 26 vessels for Cadiz; 10 for Barcelona, 
Malaga, and Alicant; 11 for Corunna, and 4 
for St. Andero; the cargoes of which consisted 



Gold, coined and uncoined, to the value of 1 ,425,70 1 
Silver do. 2,556,304 

874,593 ox-hides in the hair s 
43,752 horse-hides 
2,541 tanned hides 
222 doz. sheep-skins 
24,436 fine furs 
46,800 arobes of tallow 
451,000 ox-horns ~1 



1 1,890 goose-wings - 
771 arobes of vicunna-wool 
291 do. of guanaco-wool 
2,264 do. of common-wool 
3,223 quintals of copper* 
4 do. of tin 

* This copper comes principally from Chili, though there are a 
few mines on the east-side of the Cordillera, in Tucuman, and 
Cuyo. Notwithstanding the abundance of copper in Peru and 
Chili, no copper money is coined in the Spanish settlements. An 
attempt to introduce a copper coinage was made in 1542, but 
was abandoned, and has never since been renewed, as the natives, 
in less than a year, contemptuously buried, in the rivers and lakes, 
more than a million of piastres of that currency. A preposterous 
idea has prevailed amongst the Spanish politico-economists, that 
the introduction of copper money would debase the value of that 



of, 



piastres 



2,128 quintals of salt beef 
185 do. of salt pork 




mid exports. 627 
To the Havannah, fourteen vessels sailed with 

piastres 

Gold - - - - 

252 doz. sheep-skins 

323 fine furs 
13,600 arobes of tallow 
69,050 quintals of salt meat 

280 goose- wings 

190 arobes of wool 

To Lima and Guyaquil were exported 
1,680 arobes of tallow 

238 negro-slaves 
2,094 hoes 
620 pounds of thread 
42 doz. pair silk hose 
120 hats 




24,060 



136,050 
160,110 




67,150 



To the coast of Africa two foreign, and nine 



country ships, were dispatched with, 

In money - . , » „ 
And in goods - - 



piastres 
159,820 
24,703 

184,553 



The amount of gold and silver therefore ex- 
ported from the Plata, was 4,165,885 piastres, 
and as there were 4,600 3 000 piastres coined in the 



of gold and silver ; the want of small coin has consequently been 
very much felt, and to remedy it in some measure, the expedient 
has of late been adopted of coining quartillos, or fourths of reals 
of silver, being about the value of 1 f d. sterling. 



555 Stagnation of trade. 

same year at Potosi,* about 434,000 piastres 
seems to have been retained for the circulating 
medium of the colony. 

In the following years, however, the involvement 
of Spain in hostilities with this country produced 
a considerable change ; and in 1798, trade had 
become so stagnated that above three millions of 
hides were lying in the warehouses at Buenos 
Ayres and Montevideo. Many kinds of European 
goods were totally wanting or had risen to exces- 
sive high prices. In particular a great want was 
felt of European linen, and the stuffs manufac- 
tured from cotton in the country or brought from 
Peru, were substituted in lieu of it. Above a 
million of ells of these stuffs w r ere sold at Buenos 
Ayres for the consumption of the country in that 
year. Such as came from the country of the Chi- 
quitos and the Moxos were most in request. 
Brandy and Spanish wines were not to be procured 

* The following statement of the whole produce of the Spanish 
mines in America, is given in the written report of the viceroy- 
Don Francisco de Taboada y Lemos to his successor the marquis 
of Osorno, in 1796'. 

piastres. piastres. 



Coined at Mexico - - 24,000,000 ) North \ g4 2QQ QQ ^ 
at Guatimala - 200,000 ) America J * 

South "J 
America J 



at Lima - - 6,000,000 

at Potosi - - 4,600,000 

at Santiago de Chili 1 ,200,000 > A ^?L \ 1 

at Popayan - 1,000,000 

at Sta. Fe de Bagota 1 ,200,000, 



Total 38,200,000 



Internal Trade* 



at any price, which encouraged the manufacture 
of the wines of Cuyo, and induced attempts at 
distillation in the country. This stagnation of 
trade was, however, much relieved by the contra- 
band traffic which the Anglo-Americans entered 
into; and their supplies were found so indispensa- 
ble, that they were either connived at, or openly 
encouraged, by the government to bring European 
goods as well as slaves, and to take the produc- 
tions of the country in return. With more or less 
interruption, and with greater or smaller profits, 
the subjects of the United States have traded with 
Buenos Ayres for the last six years ; and the ac- 
cumulated stock of hides which was so much com- 
plained of in 1798, was reduced at the time of 
the capture of the settlement, to little more than 
the annual average supply. 

A very extensive internal traffic is carried on 
between the various provinces of the viceroyalty 
of Buenos Ayres, and with Peru and Chili. That 
in the herb of Paraguay i's one of the most im- 
portant branches of it. The profits arising from 
the cultivation of this plant formerly belonged to 
the Jesuits; but since their expulsion are in the 
hands of the crown, and are estimated at an an- 
nual amount of 500,000 piastres. The crown 
sells all the herb that is collected to the merchants 
of Buenos Ayres ; but the latter receive also oc- 
casional supplies from the Indians themselves, 
who bring it to the capital, and exchange it for 
the commodities they want. Such, however, is 

2 M 



630 Herb of Paraguay* 

the great demand for it, that a year's crop is ge- 
nerally bespoke, and those who trade in it must 
wait their turn of delivery. Traders come some- 
times across the mountains from Peru and Chili 
to buy it, who must wait two years before they 
can return, and in order to make a fair bargain for 
the ensuing crop presents of considerable value 
are given to the agents for the crown. These, 
who supply the place of the Jesuits, take in ex- 
change goods of various kinds, to the amount, it 
is estimated, of nearly one million of piastres. 
Knives, scissars, ribbands, silks, hose, baize, hats, 
and coarse woollen-cloths, are the principal articles 
which they dispose of to the Indians from whom the 
herb is obtained. « Though the herb is principally 
bought by the merchants of Buenos Ayres, it is 
not to that place that it is carried; no more being" 
sent thither than is wanted for the consumption of 
its inhabitants and those of the vicinity ; but the 
greatest part is dispatched to Santa Fe and Cor- 
dova, thence to be forwarded direct to Potosi and 
Mendoza. The quantity exported to Peru is 
estimated at 100,000 arobes, and to Chili 40,000. 
The remainder is consumed in Paraguay, Tucu- 
man, and the other provinces. It is conveyed in 
parcels of six or seven arobes, by waggons from 
Santa Fe to Jujui, and thence by mules to Potosi, 
La Paz, and into Peru proper. About four pias- 
tres per arobe is the price in Paraguay, and at Po- 
tosi it fetches from eight to nine, and more in pro- 
portion as it is carried farther. 



Cattle and Mules. 



531 



Large droves of cattle and mules are sent from 
Buenos Ayres and Tucuman into Peru. They 
are both lucrative branches of trade. A licence 
to deal in either must, however, first be obtained 
from the viceroy, and a handsome consideration 
given for his permission. A speculation in cattle 
is conducted in the following manner : — Persons 
who make it their trade engage to furnish the spe- 
culator with eight or ten thousand head of cattle, 
at from three to four piastres a head, and then go 
into the country, and either purchase oxen from 
the inhabitants who keep estancias, or catch wild 
cattle with their nooses, till they can deliver the 
number agreed on ; these are then conveved to 
Salta, and thence, by easyjournies, into Peru, where 
they are worth eight or ten piastres a head, and 
have incurred little expence in the conveyance, 
except that of the drivers, food being abundant 
on the road through the greatest part of the way. 

Mules, which are reared in great numbers in 
the province of Buenos Ayres, are bought by fac- 
tors from the interior, w r ho bring timber, wax, 
honey, and other articles to market. Sixty thou- 
sand mules of two years old are annually pur- 
chased for Peru, and cost between three or four 
piastres a head. They are driven by easy jour* 
nies to Salta, where they winter, and are taken 
great care of. When in good condition they are 
conducted to Potosi, where they sell for eight, 
nine, or ten piastres a head; and such as are cai> 
ried farther into Peru fetch higher prices, and some 

2 m 2 



533 



Trade between 



as much as forty and fifty piastres. A constant 
supply of mules is necessary for the work of the 
mines, as those who go thither are generally short- 
lived, on account of the hardness of the labour, 
the bad roads, and the want of proper pasture, 
Tucuman furnishes Peru with a number of mules* 
which are particularly esteemed ; also from six- 
teen to eighteen thousand head of cattle and four 
or five thousand horses, annually. Santa Cruz de 
la Sierra furnishes twenty thousand mules every 
year to Peru. 

The balance of trade between the vice-royalties of 
Peru and of Buenos Ayres, is stated to amount to a 
million of piastres in favour of the former. No 
regular maritime trade can be said to be carried on 
between them, although occasionally, and parti- 
cularly in time of war, one or two vessels have 
been sent from Callao to Montevideo, laden partly 
with cocoa and Jesuit's bark, intended for reship- 
ment to Cadiz, and partly with sugar, honey, and 
cloth manufactured in the country, for consump- 
tion in the interior. A vessel has also been now 
and then sent from Montevideo to Arica, to supply 
the mines situated in that district with quicksilver* 
by w r hich tallow and the herb of Paraguay have 
been shipped, but in no great quantities; and 
these can not come into calculation in an annual 
estimate. By the inland commerce in 1789, the 
productions introduced into the jurisdiction of 
Buenos Ayres by the departments of Arequipa 
and Cusco, and through the intermediate stations 



jPm* and Buenos Aijrcs. 53$ 

©f Potosi and Chuquisaca, amounted to the sum 
2,034,980 piastres. Of this sum, 1,300,475 pias- 
tres belonged to the province of Arequipa, for 
brandies, wines of the growth of the vallies of 
Locumba, Mages, and Victor, maize, wheat-flour, 
cotton, oil, pimento, sugar, and other articles of 
less import; and the remaining 734,505 piastres 
belonged to the intendency of Cusco, for baize, 
and other woollen manufactures, sugar, grain, 
&c. In return, Arequipa received from Buenos 
Ayres the amount of 3S9,260 piastres in cattle, 
jerked beef, wool, tallow, cocoa, copper, tin, &c. ; 
and that of Cusco received the amount of 475,530 
piastres in mules, sheep,* black cattle, hides, wax, 
soap, tallow, baizes, &c. But the augmented 
importation into the Plata, of European goods in 
the succeeding years, tended much to diminish the 
supply required from the maritime districts of 
Peru, and to reduce the balance of trade to a very 
inconsiderable surplus. The war, however, and 
the interruption to commerce and stagnation 
occasioned by it, again favoured the traffic of 
Peru, the annual balance of whose exports to the 
provinces under the jurisdiction of Buenos Ayres, 
above the, imports thence, may now be reckoned at 
four or five hundred thousand piastres. 

This balance arises from the circumstance that 
the provinces, which, in 1773, were annexed fro 

* In the year alluded to, 1789, one hundred and twenty thou- 
sand sheep were imported by the route of Cusco, from the juris* 
diction of B»enos Ayres into that of Peru. 

2 M 3 



534 



Internal Trade. 



Buenos Ay res, being the principal mine-countries* 
are both more populous, and more sterile, than 
the surrounding districts, and therefore require a 
considerable larger quantity of productions than 
they can give in return, their gold and silver ex- 
cepted, in which metals that balance is conse- 
quently paid. 

Cordova, Salta, and Jujui, enjoy considerable 
benefit from their situation on the main route 
from Buenos Ayres to Peru; and many of the in- 
habitants apply themselves to the carrying trade. 
These furnish the carretaas, which are generally 
drawn by four oxen, and sometimes by more, and 
carry fifty quintals, travelling twenty miles a day. 
The carriage to Jujui from Buenos Ayres, by these 
conveyances, is reckoned at four piastres per quin- 
tal: at Jujui, mules are substituted, and a fresh 
agreement must be made with the owners of the 
mules, who make their charge according to the 
season of the year, the necessity of the occasion, 
or the scarcity or abundance of mules at hand. 
Corn, .wax, honey, and a few cotton cloths, ma- 
nufactured in the neighbourhood, are sent from 
those towns to Potosi and Peru, and gold and sil- 
ver is taken in return. Potosi also consumes a 
large quantity of the herb coca, which is chiefly 
produced in the district of La Paz, and the trade 
in that article, at the town of that name, has been 
estimated at an annual average amount of two 
hundred thousand piastres. 

The inhabitants of Potosi and the other mine- 



Internal Trade. 



535 



countries are supplied with many of their chief 
articles of consumption from the fertile districts 
of Tarija. From Santiago de Cotagaita they re- 
ceive charcoal for the smelting of the metal, and 
this branch of traffic is very profitable. From 
Vitoche they draw leather of an excellent quality, 
made from goat-skins, and in imitation of the 
Spanish ; and from San Bernardo maize, wheat, 
swine, and timber. The province of Tarija fur- 
nishes about ten thousand head of black cattle 
annually, which fetch from eight to ten piastres 
each. These are driven successively to the pro- 
vince of Cinti, the inhabitants of which slaughter 
them, and tan the hides, furnishing Potosi, Chu- 
quisaca, and the surrounding departments, with 
sole-leather to a considerable amount : the value 
of each of the tanned hides is reckoned at four 
piastres. The district of Cochabamba supplies 
an equal quantity of tanned hides. Tarija con- 
sumes annually upwards of sixty thousand pias- 
tres in Spanish and colonial merchandise. 

The trade between Chili, or rather the province 
of Cuyo, and Buenos Ay res, is by no means so 
considerable as that with the Peruvian provinces, 
but is nevertheless worthy of notice, It is princi- 
pally from Buenos. Ayres that Cuyo, and some 
parts of Chili > are supplied with European articles; 
all the negro slaves also come from Buenos Ayres s 
and to these are joined of the productions; of the 
country, wax, tallow (of which soap is made at 
Mendoza, and sent from Conception and Yalga- 

2m 4 I 



636 



Internal Trade. 



raiso to Peru), mules, cotton, and the herb of 
Paraguay. In return, Chili and Cuyo send to 
Paraguay woollen stuffs, particularly ponchos, 
ready made ; the wine of Mendoza, which is much 
esteemed, though it is turbid, and sometimes ac- 
quires an unpleasant flavour from the goat-skins 
in w r hich it is conveyed ; a small quantity of 
brandy, and some oil ; dried grapes and peaches, 
apples, tobacco manufactured into snuff, and a 
little sugar; a considerable quantity of copper 
from Coquimbo, and gold; some cordage is also 
brought from Chili, which is the only part of 
Spanish America where hemp is manufactured, 
though it grows wild in several other districts. 

With the unsubdued Indians around them in 
every direction, the Spaniards carry on traffic, 
whenever they are at peace, with more or less 
activity, and exchange various European goods of 
utility or ornament, knives, scissars, cutlasses, razors, 
beads, looking-glasses, woollen and cotton stuffs, 
brandy, &c. for the different products of the coun- 
try ; from the Indians on the confines of the districts 
of Guayra, Uraguay, and Parana, they get con- 
siderable quantities of the herb of Paraguay and 
several fine furs. Lately, some gold of a very 
fine and pure quality has been brought to Buenos 
Ayres by those Indians, who contrive with consi- 
derable ingenuity to exchange it in a contraband 
way with the American merchants or other fo- 
reigners whom they meet with. This gold is sup- 
posed to be collected amongst mountains and up- 
land springs on the banks of the Uraguay ; but it 



Trade with the Indians. 



53? 



is kept a profound secret amongst the few Indians 
who are acquainted either with the existence of the 
metal, or with the clandestine mode of bartering 
it away. The Indians on this side travel many 
hundred miles through the Spanish territories to 
barter their commodities at Buenos Ayres and 
other places ; and some also come from amongst 
the Pampas tribes ; but more generally, Spanish 
adventurers, or the Indians in subjection, carry 
into the interior their articles for barter. From 
the Pampas Indians they buy horses and cattle, 
furs, guanaco-skins, and sometimes their own 
ehildren for slaves. The good faith of the Indians 
in their transactions particularly appears from the 
following account given of the mode in which a 
trade for cattle, &c. is carried on with the Puel- 
ches. The adventurer who engages in this traffic, 
on his arrival in the tribe, repairs to the cacique, 
and presents himself before him without sav ing a 
word: the cacique begins by saying, "So you 
are come; 5 ' the Spaniard answers, " Yes, I am 
come." Then the cacique says, " What have 
you brought meP the answer is, " A present of 
wine," of clothing, or some other article as it may 
be. The cacique then bids the stranger welcome, 
and provides him with a lodging near his own -'resi- 
dence, where all his wives and children then go to 
bid him also welcome, expecting each a present, 
which, however trifling, must, be given them. In 
the mean time the cacique causes a horn to be 
pounded, to advertise his dispersed subjects of the 



55$ Trade with the Indians. 

arrival of a merchant with whom they may trade \ 
they flock around at that signal, and examine the 
goods which are brought, and which consist of 
knives, hatchets, combs, needles, thread, looking- 
glasses, ribbands, &c. The best articles would 
be wine and brandy, but they are dangerous to 
deal in, as, furnishing them the means of imme- 
diate intoxication, little safety would be found 
amongst them, for in their excesses they even often 
kill one another ; besides, the disorders which 
arose from the introduction of wine and brandy 
amongst these Indians, and the ravages they com-* 
mitted, occasioned a wise regulation to be made 
in Chili, in the year 1724, by which the sale 
of wine and brandy to these Indians was prohi- 
bited ; a restriction which it would be desirable 
to see more extended. When the barter is agreed 
on, the Indians take away their goods without 
paying, and the merchant thus delivers all his 
goods without knowing any one of his debtors, 
and without seeing many of them, as those who 
come to his tent buy not only for themselves, but 
also for their neighbours. After a reasonable time, 
the Spaniard wishing to return, the cacique causes 
his horn to be again sounded, which is a signal for 
payment to be made. Each then brings in faith- 
fully what has been agreed upon ; and the cattle, 
in which the purchases principally consist, are 
driven by Indians sent for the purpose as far 
as the frontiers of the Spanish territory . 

The contraband trade which is* carried on bo 



With the Portuguese. 539 

tween the Portuguese of Rio Janeiro and Bahia, 
with the Spanish settlements on the Plata is not in- 
considerable. About forty vessels of two hundred 
or two hundred and fifty tons each are engaged 
in it ; but though the distance is so small, the in- 
dolent manner in which the voyage and its conco- 
mitant operations are conducted, often occasions 
a period of twelve or eighteen months to elapse 
before it is brought to a final issue. These vessels 
take from Brazil salt, sugar, earthen-ware, and 
European goods, chiefly British and German, to- 
gether with a trifling quantity of rum, the greatest 
part of which they dispose of, the salt excepted, 
to the Spaniards of Maldonado and Montevideo, 
for silver. During this traffic in the towns, the 
crews are employed along the coast in slaughtering 
the cattle, which they either purchase or catch, 
and preparing the hides and beef; the latter is cut 
into thin slices, about two feet in length, which 
are salted and dried in the sun and smoking- 
houses. On their return, this jerked t>eef, which 
is loaded in bulk, is sold on board by retail, and 
purchased principally by the lower classes of the 
inhabitants, and for the use of the slaves and 
shipping. By disposing of a cargo in this manner, 
instead of landing it, a vessel is detained five or 
six months in port, which is one cause of the 
extraordinary long duration of their voyages. The 
Spaniards themselves sometimes send vessels 
loaded with jerked beef in bulk to their West 
India islands, where it sells well, and might be 



640 Trade with the North Americans. 



a source of a very lucrative trade, if prosecuted 
with activity and intelligence. 

The Anglo-Americans have of late, as before 
said, and since the commencement of the war, 
frequented the Plata ; principally and ostensibly 
bringing slaves, but likewise introducing consider- 
able quantities of European and other articles; 
and taking in exchange, openly hides and tallow, 
and underhand silver in coin. As by a law of the 
United States, no American vessel may carry 
slaves to any foreign port under penalty of confis- 
cation, these expeditions w r ere conducted in a 
circuitous manner, so as not to leave any clue for 
the discovery of the infraction of the law. From 
North America these vessels took a cargo for an 
European market, the proceeds of which were 
invested in the purchase of such commodities as 
were necessary to obtain a few slaves, as w r ell as 
for the indirect trade with the Spaniards. They 
then proceeded to the coast of Africa,, and seldom 
took a greater number of slaves on board than 
was requisite to entitle them to an entry at Buenos 
Ayres or Montevideo. On their arrival in the 
Plata, the open trade in negroes, and the clandes- 
tine one in goods, were jointly carried on, and 
speedily terminated ; when the vessel, principally 
loaded with hides and tallow, prosecuted her voy- 
age to an European port, most generally Amster- 
dam or Hamburgh, where she sold her cargo, 
and took in another on freight, bringing back, as 
a remittance to her owners, the silver obtained 



Articles of Export. 5i4 

from the Spaniards, enough to pay for her first out- 
ward investment, and to leave a profit adequate to 
the accumulated risks and extraordinary duration 
of the voyage ; whilst the clearance outwards, and 
the entry inwards, could neither discover the 
existence, nor the object, of an intermediate voy- 
age, which, if known, would have confiscated both 
vessel and cargo. 

From what precedes it will appear evident that 
the resources of this extensive and valuable colony 
have been very ill understood, and greatly neg- 
lected by its late possessors ; only a few of its 
principal productions formed articles of export, and 
many remained wholly unsought after, or impoli- 
ticly discouraged. Those articles, which have 
been hitherto considered as objects of export from 
Buenos Ayres, are confined to the following:—- 
hides, both horse and cow, of a quality superior 
to any other, principally in the hair, but a few 
tanned ; tallow, which from the slovenly mode 
$f its preparation, more than from any inferiority 
of quality, is better calculated for the manufacture, 
of soap than for other uses ; horns, and horn-tips ; 
beef, both jerked or dried, and salted ; dried 
tongues ; salted pork ; sheep-skins ; wool ; horse- 
hair; furs of different kinds, some very fine, but- 
in small quantities ; a few seal-skins; and some 
sugar, tobacco, and cocoa, have of late been culti- 
vated and exported, but in small quantities, and 
of inferior qualities. These are the productions 
of the country immediately bordering on the Plata, 



542 Exports to be 

in the vicinity of Buenos Ayres, or easily accessi- 
ble from it. From the interior provinces, and 
from Peru and Chili come gold, silver, and copper; 
vicunna-wool, in no inconsiderable quantities ; 
wool of the lama,, or guanaco ; a little cochineal ; 
and some Jesuit's bark ; but it may here be ob- 
served, that these articles can not be depended on 
as objects of trade, until some understanding pre- 
vails between the British at Buenos Ayres, and 
the governors in the interior, as to their reciprocal 
wants; or until the British arms penetrate tg»the 
frontiers of Pern, an event, which from the imprac- 
ticability of great part of the route, and the extent 
of territory to be subdued, seems to be of little 
speedy probability. Besides augmenting the 
quantity, or amending the quality, of several of the 
items of the above meagre catalogue of exports, 
many other articles might, and, in the event of 
the colony remaining in our hands, probably will, 
be added; an increased vent, and the encourage- 
ment to agriculture and commerce, which it is the 
enlightened policy of this country to afford to all 
her conquered settlements, may add not only some 
of those productions whioh are already yielded, 
and hitherto only employed in the interior con- 
sumption of the country, but also others that have 
as yet neither been resorted to as objects of exter- 
nal commerce, or of interior utility. To the for- 
mer class would belong : wheat, rice, maize, all 
produced in abundance in various fertile parts of the 
colony; salt, from the numerous gait-springs, and 



encouraged. 51$ 

"beds of rock-salt that extend for many hundred 
miles ; saltpetre ; wax and honey ; figs, pimento, 
and ginger ; cotton, and the indigo manufactured 
in some parts of Tucuman. To the latter, coffee, 
flax, hemp, olive-oil, lignum vita?, and various 
kinds of hard wood ; gum guaicum, dragon's 
blood, and several other medicinal gums ; vale- 
rian, salsaparilla, contrayerva, &c. If an inter- 
course is established with the interior provinces, 
the Jesuit's bark, much less of which is gathered 
than the country produces, an increased quantity 
of cochineal and indip*o, the cinnamon of Peru, 
bezoar-stones* and goatskin leather, would be ob- 
jects wortln/ of mercantile attention. Platina, the 
scarcity of which metal, in Europe, is not so much 
to be attributed to the paucity of the quantity 
yielded, as to the strict regulations of the Spanish 
government, by which it was enacted, some years 
ago, that no platina should even be exchanged 
or used in the country, much less sold or exported 
abroad, might, by an intercourse with the mine- 
countries, be procured in sufficient quantities to 
render its valuable qualities more generally useful. 
It may also be worth an experiment, whether the 
herb of Paraguay, or any other substitute for tea, 
if the tea-shrub itself does not exist in the country, 
as has been supposed*, could be introduced into 
the consumption of Europe, in which case a very 
valuable source of commerce would be immediate]/ 



Se.e page 49^. 



544? Articled to he shipped* 

opened, which, however it might interfere with 
the interest of the East India Company, could not 
fail to be of general national benefit. The cheap- 
ness and excellence of the horses of Buenos Ayres 
may, too, induce some spirited adventurer to try the 
practicability of importing them in vessels adapted 
for the purpose into this country ; and it is not to 
be doubted that the mules, whose strength and 
utility are so well adapted for the West Indies, 
would form a most advantageous speculation to 
be sent to our islands, accompanied perhaps both 
by live cattle and horses. Vessels constructed 
in the manner of the New England lumber-ships, 
would be requisite for this purpose. 

After enumerating what articles may be ex- 
pected to be obtained at Buenos Ayres, a detail of 
those which areadapted to form investments thither^ 
will shew that shipments to that colony may com- 
prehend an extensive range of British produce and 
manufactures, together with some articles of foreign 
or East India importation ; but it will be necessary 
to point out, at the same time, such as might be, 
and have been, erroneously supposed to be 
adapted for the market. 

Though salt is yielded in large quantities in the 
country, yet it is scarcely procurable at Buenos 
Ayres in sufficient quantities, or of a proper qua- 
lity for the curing of provisions ; those vessels, 
therefore, that intend to ship in return salted 
beef, Qught to take salt out with them ; and none 
is to be had better or cheaper than what is shipped 



Articles to he shipped. 5^5 

from Liverpool from the Cheshire salt-works* ; 
it is to be observed that, though the surplus be- 
yond what may be wanted for curing beef, will 
find a ready sale, yet it is not likely that it would 
yield much profit, and it is also probable that the 
salt of the country may, ere long, be brought to 
supersede the necessity for taking out any for 
that purpose. Bar-iron, both round and flat, may- 
be sent in considerable quantities, but little or no 
unmanufactured steel ; tin-plates ; iron nails of 
every sort and size ; brass and steel wire ; sheet 
and bar-lead, and shot; hardware and cutlery of 
all kinds, knive3, scissars, razors, cutlasses, 
macheats, hoes for agriculture, adzes, saws, axes, &c. 
Staffordshire, and other earthenware, not however, 
many crates of tea-cups, or other tea-equipage, 
though most other descriptions of cream-coloured, 
chintz, edged, enamelled, and blue-painted, earthen- 
ware, may go in any quantities, especially plates and 
dishes, bowls, basons, and ewers ; some of the Wor- 
cester china, and Wedgwood's ware, will sell well ; 
and of English china, tea and coffee things may be 
shipped in a less sparing manner than of coarser 
earthenware ; chocolate-cups and fine painted and 
gilt vases for flowers, are articles of luxury that will 
be found to be in considerable request ; glass-ware 

* The price of common salt, duty free, for exportation at Liver- 
pool, is, from 5d. to 5^-d. per bushel, which, with the canal-freight 
from the salt-works, 2s. per ton, commission and other charges, 
makes the invoice-cost amount to 6\<L or "d. per bushel. 

2 N 



546 



Articles 



of most kinds, particularly window-glass and green 
bottles, tumblers, goblets, and wine-glasses, but 
very few decanters ; a model of the glass-pipes 
that are used for imbibing the infusion of the herb 
of Paraguay should be procured, in order to make 
such as would suit the consumption ; stone jugs 
and bottles are a good and cheap investment; but 
pipes of no description ought to be sent, as both 
Spaniards and Indians invariably use segars ; Lon- 
don bottled porter, and the best kinds of ale, are 
great rarities, and much esteemed; a great want 
of brandy, and of European wine, prevails in the 
colony, but it is not likely that those articles can 
be shipped with advantage from this country ; pro- 
bablv Jamaica rum would answer, if laid in at a 
moderate rate ; stationery ; jewellery and watches, 
but none of them, nor any trinkets, of false metal ; 
the watches should all be gold ; no counterfeit ar- 
ticle will answer; no false jewels, or paste of any 
sort; and every thing of that kind that is sent will 
be a total loss, for nothing but gold, silver, and 
real jewels, will be looked at; good fowling-pieces, 
a few of them mounted with silver; shot-bags and 
powder-horns may do; carriages, saddlery, and ca- 
binet work were usually imported from Spain, but 
it may be feared that the English mode of manu^ 
Tacture of those articles, may not, perhaps, be 
equally approved of by the inhabitants, who are 
bigots in habits, as well as in religion ; a few sad- 
dles and bridles, however, should be sent for a trial, 
to supersede the clumsy articles of that kind, in 



to he shipped. 547 

iise, and will, at all events, find a vent amongst the 
British officers, and settlers who may be established 
there ; indeed it may generally be observed, that 
a moderate stock of such articles as may not be 
vendible amongst the Spaniards, -or native inhabit- 
ants, and which are more peculiarly adapted to the 
habits of the English, may be considered as re- 
quired for the consumption of the description of 
persons, here alluded to, yet the supply of such ar* 
tides must be dealt with a sparing hand, at least till 
a more considerable Bfitisk population exists there 
than will be the case in this early stage of posses- 
sion. To return to the list of goods, adapted for 
the general consumption of the country, the next 
that occur are articles of clothing ; of these, English 
broad cloth, principally of the finer kinds,, and of 
more brilliant colours than suit the sober dress of 
the English themselves, occupy a distinguished 
place; bays, serges, and kerseymeres; also carpet- 
ing; muslins, cambrics, lawns, linen, gauze, mus- 
quito nets> ribbands, India silks, sarsnets, taffe- 
ties, silk stockings* but none of cotton, and most 
light articles of female dress, coloured and printed 
cottons, dimities, handkerchiefs, cotton-furniture 
prints, &c. ; hats of most kinds, from coarse negroe 
hats ? to fine beaver; ladies straw hats have been 
recommended to be tried, and this manufacture, 
which has of late been carried on in this country to a 
Considerable extent, deserves more particular en- 
couragement, as adding to one of the few branches 
in which the industry of helpless females may be 

2 n 2 



348 Articles to be shipped. 

exerted for their own maintenance, and for the be- 
nefit of the community; straw shoes, which have 
an elegant, and perhaps, a shewy, appearance, 
though much approved of by the English ladies who 
have tried them, for their lightness and ease in the 
summer season, will probably, from the severity of 
the weather here in some seasons, and its variabi- 
lity at all times, not become a permanent object 
for use in England, but it is scarcely possible to 
conceive any thing better adapted to serene, clear, 
warm, or hot climates, and they have therefore, 
with much propriety, been advised to be tried as a 
speculation to Buenos Ayres : boots and shoes, 
especially ladies silk and fine coloured leather 
shoes; artificial flowers, and ornamental feathers; 
and fine gold and silver lace and fringe are sure to 
be of ready sale; British laces should also be tried, 
and perhaps may be made to supersede those made 
in the country, which, though coarse and ill made, 
are of very great use amongst the female sex ; 
beads for the Indians, especially sky-coloured, 
which is their favourite colour, and worsted, dyed 
of the most brilliant colours, are in much demand 
for traffic with the natives; paints of most kinds, 
particularly vermillion ; East India spices; gun- 
flints; sail-cloth; checks; umbrellas; combs; 
looking-glasses ; cast iron pots, camp-ovens, and 
fire-dogs, &c. &c. all swell the list, and may be 
shipped with advantage. 

Considerable judgment, however, is requisite 
for making up a complete assortment for this near ly 



Commercial Advantages, 549 

untried market ; and the main point to be kept in 
view is, that it must be made to suit the inhabit- 
ants of an ancient colony, opulent and luxurious, 
who will pay well for articles that strike their 
fancy, or assimilate with their habits, but will with 
difficulty be brought to adopt such as are unknown 
to them, or repugnant to their customs. 

The advantages to be derived to this country 
from the possession of Buenos Ay res, in a com- 
mercial point of view, may, in some measure, be ap- 
preciated from what precedes. It is the emporium 
whence the whole of the interior of Spanish South 
America, excepting the sea-coast of Peru and 
Chili, must be supplied with an innumerable va- 
riety of European articles. But at the same time 
it must not be disguised, that unless a communi- 
cation can be opened with the interior provinces, 
neither will there be any considerable quantity of 
our goods disposed of, nor will the treasures, and 
richer commodities of those parts, flow into our 
commerce. The indispensable wants, however, of 
a population, though not thickly sown, yet numer- 
ous, from the extended regions it occupies, can 
scarcely fail to promote this object. The interrup- 
tion that must, from our maritime superiority, be 
given to any communication round Cape Horn, 
between Spain and Peru, will also tend to make 
the inhabitants of that viceroyalty, and of Chili, 
look to the channel of the British established at 
Buenos Ay res, for their supplies ; and the advan- 
tageous situation of that city, on a river which 
2n3 



660 Import mice of 

constitutes the only inlet to all the provinces un- 
der its jurisdiction (excepting the insignificant 
port of Atacama, on the Pacific ocean, and which 
may more properly be said to belong to Peru) 
must render its commercial prerogatives permanent, 
and unchanged by any political events, It flou- 
rished even under the torpid influence of an abso- 
lute, jealous, and illiberal government ; under one 
of an opposite description, it will, no doubt, rise to 
a pitch of opulence and prosperity commensurate 
with its natural advantages, 

The determination, not only implied, but ex-, 
pressed, of the French ruler, to shut us out from 
all communication with the continent of Europe, 
and the war of confiscation which he carries on. 
against our manufactures, and the produce of our 
colonies, though probably impotent to destroy, or 
even to diminish, in any considerable degree, their 
consumption, in the countries under his sway, 
may by some be considered in the most serious 
light; to these let the acquisition of Buenos 
Ay res, and the opening it affords for the supply 
of the whole of South America, be a consolation 
to repel their gloominess of apprehension, Whilst 
we have the command of the seas, our manufac^ 
tures will form a chief object in the consumption, 
and in the trade, of the most distant nations, nor 
need we repine at a partial and temporary exclu- 
sion from a few ports in the north of Europe, 
whilst our manufactures are coveted and consumed 
in every other quarter of the globe, TheNorthAme- 



Buenos Ay res, 5,rl 

rican States, it has been thought, are increasing 
their manufactures, and will take less of our's in 
consequence. It is very improbable that they 
can attain any excellence in manufactures, so as 
even to supply their own consumption, whilst they 
form an agricultural nation; and if any decrease 
has been observed in the supply of British goods to 
that continent, it may, with more justice, be attri- 
buted to the reluctance that British merchants fee} 
to afford that credit to those of North America, 
which a more punctual attention to mercantile 
good faith, than is generally found amongst them, 
would entitle them to, than to any want of orders 
for goods, from America, unexecuted reams of 
which eveiy merchant trading to that part has, 
no doubt, lying in his desk. But for this decrease, 
if any, a compensation also will be found in South 
America, and the proverbial good faith of the 
Spanish traders will leave no similar grounds of 
complaint, to those, which, it is to be said with 
regret, certainly do exist with respect to their 
northern neighbours. 

The importance of the acquisition of Buenos 
Ayres, both in a commercial and political point of 
view, seems to have been intuitively felt by the 
whole nation. In the event of a peace, so much 
to be wished for, but apparently at so great a di- 
stance, it is scarcely possible to conceive what equi- 
valent could be offered for its restoration ; but it 
must be some weighty consideration, some mighty 
equipoise, that can counterbalance its prepon* 

!k4 



552 Political Importance 

derating importance ; and such as, deprived of" 
" ships, colonies, and commerce," our impla- 
cable enemy can scarcely have it in his power to 
offer. The restoration of a puppet-king or two 
on the continent of Europe, to the pageantry of 
a crown under the tutelage of France, can not, as 
long as she possesses the power of deposing them 
again at will, be, in any shape, the slightest com- 
pensation for such solid advantages as Britain will 
be required to give up, if the restitution of the 
Dutch and Spanish conquered colonies is to be 
the principal object of a treaty of peace. It 
can not indeed be affirmed, that no case or conjunc- 
ture can occur, in which it may not be good po- 
licy to relinquish the important acquisitions of 
Buenos Ayres and the Cape of Good Hope to 
the general interests of the state ; but the minister 
who advises such a measure must feel the high 
responsibility he will incur to the people of 
England, and be prepared to shew the strongest 
necessity of the sacrifice, or the most obvious 
advantages of the considerations for which they 
may be given up. Viewing it, in the first instance, 
solely in the light of a heavy weight to be thrown 
into our scale in negotiations for peace, the sub- 
jugation of this valuable settlement is of the ut- 
most importance to assist in controuiing the am- 
bitious career of the ruler of France: but consi- 
dering it, as it is not improbable to remain, a 
permanent acquisition, it will assume a higher 
value, and will not suffer in comparison with any 



of Buenos Ay res, 563 

territorial conquest gained at any time by the 
British arms, and secured to the empire by 
treaty. 

The vast regions to which the Plata is the sole 
inlet, are, as will have appeared in the preceding 
pages, far from being fully explored ; much is yet 
wholly unknown, and the value of what is known 
ought not to be computed by what it yielded to 
indolence, and to a policy which for ages bound 
the Spanish settlements in the strictest fetters, both 
as to commercial benefits and interior improve- 
ment, and which had made but very few efforts 
to break through the dark clouds of jealousy and 
ignorance with which it was enveloped. 

One advantage which it has been calculated 
wouid arise to the maritime interests of Britain 
from the possession of Buenos Ayres can not, 
however, exist in any considerable degree, till 
the fortress of Montevideo has been reduced, and 
its excellent port rendered accessible to our ship- 
ping. Till that is the case, the Plata will not 
afford the asylum and place of refreshment which 
has been supposed for our ships sailing round Cape 
Horn, to the South Seas, and to China ; nor till 
then can it supersede the harbour of Rio Janeiro, 
in affording a fit "Station for refreshment, on some 
occasions, to the East India fleets and others, bound 
on distant voyages. When Montevideo, however, 
falls, our possessions on the Plata will be found to 
obviate the necessity of any vessels putting into 
Brazil, and submitting to the jealous incivility, 



#54 



Remarks on 



and excessive extortion, with which they have of 
late been treated in the Portuguese ports. 

As long as we remain ignorant of the further 
progress of our arms in South America, it is 
scarcely possible to form any conclusive opinion 
as to the future station which Buenos Ay res may 
assume; but as we can not perhaps well spare a 
sufficient military force to maintain possession of 
any considerable extent of country, it is not im- 
probable that the policy will be perceived of ac- 
quiring first a firm and solid footing on the banks 
of the Plata alone ; and when we have the posses- 
sion of both sides of the estuary, and of both 
banks of the Parana, as high perhaps as Santa Fe, 
of ceasing from every attempt at farther territorial 
conquest, but, in lieu of hostile menaces, to hold 
out the olive-branch conditionally to the inhabit- 
ants of the interior. From the history of the 
country which has been given, it will have ap- 
peared, that the colonists have repeatedly pro- 
ceeded from turbulent commotion to open rebel- 
lion against the Spanish government, and it is well 
ascertained that the utmost discontent prevails 
amongst them, and that in most of their colonies 
the Creoles wish and wait, only for an opportunity 
of throwing off that yoke, which the haughtiness 
©f the chapetones, and the provoking preferences 
given to the latter as before explained, have ren- 
dered intolerable. From the predisposition of the 
colonists in Paraguay, the exertion of a seasonable 
and well-managed policy might produce the 



ihe Capture of Buenos Aijres. 555 

establishment of an independent state in the in- 
terior of South America, protected, fostered, and 
supplied by Britain, from which our commercial 
and manufacturing interests will derive advan- 
tages equal to those that would accrue from terri- 
torial possession, whilst neither men nor money- 
would be wanting to maintain a military force, 
or an expensive civil establishment, which we 
should necessarily be compelled to support in the 
event of the hostile reduction of so widely an 
extended country. 

The possession of these advantageous stations 
at the mouth of the Plata, would enable us to 
protect, and influence, the whole of South Ame- 
rica, and Peru and Chili would probably soon 
follow the example set by the oologies of the in* 
terior provinces of Paraguay. The maintenance 
of a considerable military force, however, at 
Buenos Ayres and Montevideo, will be an object 
not only of importance, as shewing both the power 
to protect and the means of resistance, but also 
one of expedience, inasmuch as such garrisons 
would be stations for seasoning our soldiers for 
other climates, and particularly for the West 
Indies, in the same manner as the Cape of Good 
Hope is, or may be, for the East. The Cape and 
Buenos Ayres lie in nearly the same degree of 
south latitude, and no two places could be pointed 
out more eligible for such purposes; the one for 
the voyage to hither India, and the other for 
those round Cape Horn to New South Wales and 



,5,56 Abolition of tlic 

China. The salubrity of the climate, though 
warm, would form our regiments gradually to 
such habits of constitution as would bear the 
hotter sun of our West India islands, and secure 
them from the ravages which too frequently accom- 
pany their direct importation into Jamaica, and 
the other islands, from Great Britain. 

A flourishing British colony on the banks of 
the Plata would be able to supply our West India 
islands with many of the necessary articles that 
are drawn from North America, even at the ex- 
pense of an alarming suspension of our navigation- 
laws. Live stock and salted provisions might be 
sent in any quantities ; but no spot adequate to 
the supply of lumber has hitherto occurred to 
rival the southern states in their short and profit- 
able voyage to the West Indies with that indispen- 
sable commodity. 

The abolition of the infamous traffic in slaves, 
now so laudably persevered in by the British, has 
given occasion to many predictions of the total 
ruin of our West India colonies, and their rever- 
sion to their original state of woods and morasses. 
This assumption is grounded on the twofold most 
incongruous supposition, that the negroes, if left 
to themselves, under such regulations for the mainte- 
nance of their race in the islands as might be deem- 
ed expedient, would either become so numerous 
as to become the masters, and so expel the whites, 
or that their population would dwindle and die 
away, and the islands be lost for want of hands to 



Slave Trade. 



557- 



cultivate them. It would be easy to combat these 
gratuitous assertions, both by argument and by 
the example of the Danish sugar-islands ; but the 
discussion is foreign to the present subject, and is 
introduced principally to point out, that in the 
most disastrous result that can be imagined with 
regard to our West India possessions, those which 
we may secure in South America would afford 
ample compensation to the state at large. There- 
is no article of colonial produce, which Buenos 
Ay res, and the other provinces, which through 
this key are accessible either to our arms or to 
our policy, do not actually yield, or might be 
made to yield in the utmost abundance ; whilst 
the temperature of the climate is such as to su- 
persede the necessity of cultivating the land by 
African labourers. Those negroes that are found 
at Buenos Ay res are only kept for the pur- 
poses of ostentation and luxury, nor are they 
ever either employed in the interior provinces, or 
in Peru, either in the labour of the mines, or in 
agricultural pursuits. Free and voluntary la- 
bourers could be employed, because the mildness 
and serenity of the climate would insure health 
even to European cultivators, and afford abundant 
returns. The fertile plains of Buenos Ayres 
might be made to yield an ample profit to the 
capitalist who embarked in their cultivation ; and 
the activity and spirit of enterprise, which so 
tempting an occasion would call forth, . in the 
event of the settlement being retained at a peace, 



ooS t Advantages of Buenos Ay res. 

would produce comfort and prosperity to the 
inhabitants,* and a large revenue to the govern* 
ment. 

The tide of emigration, which has so long 
flowed from the highlands of Scotland and the 
north of Ireland to the United States of America, 
has lately been attempted to be turned, with par- 
tial success, towards Canada, by the beneficent 
and public-spirited exertions of Lord Selkirk. 
An asylum equally eligible with Prince EdwarcFs 
Island might be found for these emigrants, on^the 
banks. of the Plata; and in process of time Jrhese 
widely-extended, fertile, but uncultivated plains, 
might swarm with a hardy population, from those 
sources which are now principally lost to the British 
empire, and which it is the political; duty of the 
legislature to reclaim. Emigration ought not to 
be restricted ; it is the natural consequence of the 
increased population which is manifest in Great 
Britain, but it ought to be directed, as much as 
possible, to the advantage of the state, and such 
encouragements held out as will draw the emi- 
grants to strengthen the old, or form new settle- 
ments, belonging to the British empire. 

The veil that yet hangs over the fate of South 
America, either as being likely to be subjected 
in a great measure to this country, or to be raised 
into independent existence, to which the spirited 
but ill-supported efforts of an individual of talent 
are directed on its northern shores, renders further 
discussion premature, and perhaps visionary. In 



Conclusion* 



559 



.conclusion, however, it may with confidence be 
asserted, that the retention of Buenos Ay res and 
its adjacent settlements, by Britain," if to be ren- 
dered compatible with the general interests of the 
state, will form an epoch in our commercial and 
political history on which posterity will dwell with 
pleasure ; and that British industry and enterprise, 
exploring all the resources of this vast region, will 
improve them to their utmost extent, blending 
the advantage of individuals with an incalculable 
augmentation of the wealth, the power, and the 
security, of the empire. 



560 



INDEX. 



A 

Paste 

ABIPQNES, custom of 54 
account of ..... 424 

Abolition of the Slave Trade . . . . 556 

Abreu, Diego de, governor . . . . .255 

Adelentado, dignity of • 23.9 
Aduana, or customs . . • • . .375 

Advantages of Buenos Ayres .... 549 et seg. 

Agriculture of the Indians . . . 48 

Alcavela, duties . . . . . . .3/5 

Alerce, tree . . . * , . . 493 
Algarova, tree . . . . • . . 490 

Alligators 433 

Almajorifasgo, duties . . . . . . 375 

Alpamisqua, sort of honey • . . . .190 

Alvarez, appointed governor . . . ... 239 

— ■ ' overland expedition . . . • . 240 

f r expeditions against the Indians . . 242, 247 

... ■ . ' seized at Assumption . . . . . 250 

— sent to Spain, and acquitted .... 252 

Amazons, fabulous account of • . . , . 43, 248 
America, its first population . . . . Jl 

,. physical peculiarities . . . . .18 

Americans, corporeal constitution .... 32 

-— — — intellectual faculties . . * .35 

— (North) trade with Buenos Ayres . 529, 540 

Amparaes, district . . . .' . . • 200 
Amphibia 4S3 

Anchieta, jesuit in Brazil 273 

Andes, mountains . . . .24, 163, 122—130 

Anecdote of an Indian • . . v. . . 4 JO 

Anegada bay . . . . . . .81 

Angulo, father, one of the first Jesuits . . • 27'i 

Anta, quadruped ....... 467 

Antequera, judge-informer of Paraguay . . . 317 

— , — **. usurpation of authority • . • .318 



INDEX. 



Antequera, rebellion of 
suppressed 



flight and arrest 



■ execution 

Aracruay, river 
Archivo of Simanchas 
Arias, governor 
Armadillo 
Armado, fish 
Articles for shipment to Buenos Ayres 
Asilo, district 
Assiento- treaty- 
Assumption, city 
» — its foundation 

fire at 

— discontents at 

■ ■ — plague at 

Atacama, mines 

■ district 
Avangaro, district 
Averia, duty 
Ayolas, expedition of 

■ death of 

B 

Bagres, fish 
Balthazar, governor 

• defeated by Antequera 

Banks in the Plata 
Barrage n, bay of 
Barsena, father, one of the first jesuits 
Bees . . ... 

Bejucos 

Bejucos bridges 
Beni, river . , 
Berenguela, town . . 
Beresford, general, letters of 

— proclamation 

Bezoar-stones 
Bigotry, abated 
Boga, fish . .. 
Bombyx papifer 
Borombon, river 
Bovua, governor 

> abdicates 

Bourbon, accession 



Brazilian ridge 
Bread, price of 
Bricks, how made 



of the house 



2 O 



29, 



, 561 

Page 
. 320 
. 323 
. 323 
. 326 
. 69 
2 

285, 289 
101, 467 
. 481 
544 et seq m 
. 211 
. 513 
185 
234 
244 
249 
276 
162 
203 
21.1 
375 
233 
237 

483 
320 
322 
61 
177 
273 
485 
498 
128 
88 
205 

346, 355, 3 60 
353 
463 
389 
479 
484 
73 
324 
325 
315 
122 
177 
418 



562 INDEX. 

Buenos Ayres, viceroyalty . • . . 28 

— : city . . .' 28 

, derivation of ..... 166 

« environs of .... 166, 167 

■ city, account of . . . . 17"2, 177 

■ foundation of . . . . . 229 

~ » famine at . . . . 230, 237 

abandoned ...... 258 

■ attempts to re-establish .... 244 

re-establishment of .... 268 

■ commerce of . . ."" . . 280 

, — —capture of . . . .' . 342—362 

Bull of cruzado . ..... 373, 375 

Bullion coined in Spanish America . ... 528 

Burials of the Indians . . . . . . 409, 447 



C 

Caa, or herb of Paraguay ...... 494 



Caaiguas, Indian tribe . .... 34, 420 

Cabot, Sebastian 32, 216 

his commission . . . .217 

Cabot's fort . . . . . . > . 184, 226 

Cabrillos, lake . 95 

Cabreras, a conspirator . . * . . 250, 252 
Cacapol, Indian cacique . . . . . .335 

Caciques . . , . . . . .41, 404 

Calaguala, plant . . <. . . . * . 497 

Calchaqui, valley . . . . . . .74 

Calchaquis, Indian tribe ...... 276 

Calderon, Fernand 220 

Calenda, negro-dance . . . . 395 

Calrera, Alphonso . . ' . ' . . .234 
Cameleon ... ^. .... . 486 

Cangapol, Indian cacique . . . . .336, 446 

Cannette, marquis, viceroy . . . . .266 

Cannibalism- . . . . . . . .47 

Carabaya, district . . . . . . .210 

Caracaras, lake . . . . . . . . $3 

Caranges, mines of . . . . . . . 1 59 

district . . . . * . .202 

Cardenas, bishop, his proceedings ♦ . . .304 

assumes the government . . . . 306 

■■- disgrace of . ..... 308 

* Carriages, or Carretaas, described . . . .417 

Carrion-vultures . . . . . . .475 

Casa de la Contratacion . . . . . .3 69 

f Castelfuerte, marquis, viceroy ..... 324 

Casuhati, mountains . . . . . . .132 

Catchrope, use and description of . . . .417 

Cathedral of Buenos Ayres . . . . . 17* 



INDEX. « 563 

Page 

Cattle, mode of hunting and slaughtering . 41 5, 4l£ 

trade in . 531, 53 5 

Caxon . . • • . . . • .14^ 
Caymans 433 
Cespedez, governor . , , . • . . 291- 
Chaco, plains of . . . .... 97 

first entered . . . . . . 266 

Indians of 422 

Chanas, town . . . • . . . . 184 

Chapetones . . . . . . . . 379 

Charcas, see Los Charcas 

Chaves founds Santa Cruz de la Sierra . . . 260 

proceedings of . . . . . .262 

death of 263 

Chayanta, or Chayanza, mines of . ... 1 53 
Chechehets, Indian tribe . . . . . .435 

Chica 37, 49 

Chicas y Tarija, district . . . . . I96 

Chili, its trade with Buenos Ay res , . . .53 5 

Chilian Cordillera . . . . . . .131 

Chinna, a quadruped ....... 471 

Chipewyans, tradition of . . . . .15 

Chiquitos, Indians . . . . . . . 203 

■ missions . . . . . . .313 

— reductions, Indians of ... . 332 

Indians, unsubdued . . . . . 427 

Chiriguanos, Indians . ...... 427 

Chonos, Indians . . . . . .437 

Chucuito, mines of . . ... . .145 

district 205 

Chuquisaca, see La Plata 

Cibogi, river . , ... . . .73 

Cinnamon of Peru ....... 525 

Ciuidad Real, town 185, 259 

Classes of inhabitants . . . . . 377 et seq* 

Clergy . . 372, 382 

Climate . . . . , . , . .166 

Coca, herb . . . . ... . 496 

Cochabamba, mines of . . , • » • 1 58 

district . . . . . * 201 

Cochineal-insect . ...... 486 

Colonia, settlement . .... 183, 511 

Colorado, river . . , . . ,80 

Colquijilca, mines of . . t . . . .158 

Commerce, Spanish colonial . . . . . 501 

Commercial policy of Spain . . . . . 502 

regulations . ..... 523 

Commune, faction of, at Assumption „ . . 32b 

2 o 2 



664 INDEX. 

Pag* 

Conception, town 16/ 

. reduction . . . . r . 187 

Conchas, I^io de las 63 

Condor, bird . . 473 

Convents, and nunneries . . . ... 1/4 

. number of . . . . . .371 

Conversions, ineffectual . . . , . 272 

Contraband trade . . . 507, 510, 514, 523, 539 

Cookery of the Spaniards 397 

Copper hardened by the Peruvians . . . .133 

Copper Coinage, none in Spanish America . ' . . 527 
Cordilleras ^ . . . . . . 24, 122—128 

Cordova, ^city . . . . . . . .188 

Cornejo, expedition of 119 

Corporeal constitution of the Indians ... . 32 

Corpus Christi, festival . . . . . . 335 

Corrientes, toWn . . . . . . .184 

Corvino, fish . . . . . . . . 478 

Cougar, American tiger 466 

Council of the Indies . . 367 

Country, general idea of . . . . 57 

Creoles ........ 379> 381 

Cunuguati, town, . . . . . . .186 

Cuyaba, river . . . . . . . .67 

Cuyo, province . . * . . . .29 

mines in . . • . . . . .162 

■ climate . . . . . . . .165 

_ wine of . . • . . ..166 

'* towns of ~ . . . . . .212 

trade of . .535 

D 

Desaguaderos, rivers . .... 80, 82, 89 
Demagogue, a popular one . • .* .325 

Dentudo, fish . . . 480 

Diseases of the Indians . . . . . .412 

Discovery of Rio de la Plata .... 32,214 

Dispertador, bird . . . . . . .475 

Dissensions between Spain and Portugal . . .336 
Diuihets, Indian tribe . ..... 443 

Dogs, wild « ....... 455 

Dolce, river ........ 74 

Dorado, fish . . . . . * . .477 

Dress of the ladies ... .... 394 

Duties on gold and silver . < . . . 149> 374 

— various . . . . . . • . 375 

— reduction of . * . . .375 

E 

Ecclesiastical establishment . . . « . .370 



INDEX. 565 

Page 

Emeralds . . . . . " «. • • . 160 

Emigration from Scotland and Ireland . . . 558 

Emu, or ostrich . . . . • . . 472 . 

Encomanderos r\ . . . . • . . 258 

Encomiendas . . . ... . . . 258 

Erizo, fish . . . . . -482 

Estancias . . . . . . . . .101 

Esteco, town , . . . . . . .192 

Exakacion, river . . . . . . .88 

Exports from Buenos Ay res . . 517, 513, 526, 527 s 541 

— ■ — — from Lima . . . . . . .518 

■ from South America . . . .521, 522 

F 

Famine at Buenos Ayres * , • . . .230 
Fandango, Spanish dance . . . . . .395 

Ferdinand VI. edict of 384 

Fire-flies . . . . . . . . . 486 

Fish in the Plata .477 

Flota . . . ...... 503 

Fort of Buenos Ayres . . • . . .176 

of Gaboto or Cabot . . : . . .184 

of Good Hope . . . . . -> .236 

Fossile-bones ........ 499 

G 

Galan, Francisco de . . .... 232 

Galleons and Flota 508 

Garay, Juan de, founder of Santa Fe . . . . 263 
Garcias, Alexis, expedition of. . 59? 215 

■ his death . . . . . .216 

his son . . . . . . 248 

Diego ' 220 

Gardens of Buenos Ayres . . . . . .175 

Garro, governor of Rio de la Plata . . . .311 

Gauderois, account of . . . . . .180 

Geese . . . . . . r 477 

General junto at Assumption ..... 329 

Glow-worms . . . . . . . .486 

Gold, ores of . . . . . . . . 134 

method of refining ...... 135 

extraordinary lumps of . . . . . 1 54 

Gongora, governor ....... 289 

Gonzalez, father . . . . . . . 285 

Government, colonial . ... . . 363 

Guanacache, lakes of ... . . . . 80 

Guanaco, quadruped ....... 460 

Guaranis, Indian nation . . . .... 53 

■ missions amongst . . . . .281 

2 o 3 



\ 

566 INDEX. 

Pfige 

Guaranis, submit to the Jesuits . 285 

' resist their expulsion ..... 338 

unsubdued . . . . . . .418 

Guarda-costas . . . . . . .514 

Guayra, province . . . . . .29 

missions of ..... 186, 279 

Gums ......... 493 

Guyacurus, Indian nation . , . . 42, 420 

Guyara, river ....... 68 

" H 

Hammocks, an Indian invention .... 48 

Hell of navigators, name given to the Plata ... 58 
Helms, itinerary ...... 104 — 118 

Heredia, Diego de . . . . , . . 265 

Herb of Paraguay, trade in . 529, 543 

History of Paraguay 214 — 362 

— natural . . . . . 454—500 

Horses . . . . . . . , . 455 

wild . . . * . . . . .99 

Houses of Buenos Ayres . . . . . . 175 

Huechin, Indian town . . ■ . , , , . 438 

Hueyque Leuvu, river ...... 79 

Huilliches, Indian tribe . . . . . .433 

Hunting of bears . . . . . 411 

1 horses . . . . . .413 

* cattle , . . . , , . 415 

I 

Iberi, lake . . . . • . . . "93 

Ichu, a herb . 123, 497 

Iguazu, river . . . . . . . .73 

Ijurra, a skilful miner . . . . . .157 

Immortality of the soul , . . . . .51 

Imports into South America .... 521, 522 

• — of Buenos Ayres ..... 525, 544 
Incas, origin of their empire . . . . . 9 1 

their principal silver mines . . •• .145 

Independence of South America, reflections on . ■. 555 
Indian, curious anecdote of one . . . .410 

Indians of Paraguay, aboriginal . , . . 36 

• ■ 1 — their drunkenness . , . . 37 

' domestic state . . . . .38 

political state . . ■ , .40 

warfare . . . .45 

• 1 religion ..... 49 

of the encomiendas . . . . 258, 284 

" converted by the Jesuits . . , .284 
r insurrections of . . . . 309» 341 

• ■ reduction, their services . . . .309 
' Pampas, hostilities with . . , . 33$ 



INDEX. 567 

Page 

Indians subjected, condition of .... 401 

• services required of ... 402 

oppression of .... 405 

character of . . . .. 406* 

manners, &c. . . . . 408 

burials . /. V . . . 409 

dwellings ..... 409 

religion . . . . .410 

«i marriages . . . . .410 

intrepidity and hunting . . .411 

diseases . . . . . . 412 

■ clothing . . . . .413 

unsubdued . . . . . 418 et sea. 

trade with 536 

Indies, council of the ...... 367 

Inhabitants, classes of .... 377 et sea. 

Insects .483 

Intellectual faculties of the Indians • . 35 

Internal trade ...... 529 e t se( j* 

Introduction . . . , . . . 1 

Irala, expedition of . . . . . . .233 

assumes the government . . . . .238 

• superseded . . . . . 239 

again assumes authority ..... 253 

his expeditions ....... 254 

his tyranny . . .... . ^ 255 

his death 260 

Itatines, Indian tribe . . ... . . 262, 420 

Itinerary from Buenos Ayres to Lima, . . . 104 — 118 

Itu, fall of 72 

J 

Jacumama, snake . , . . , . . 4S6 

Jaguar, American tiger . . . ... . 465 

Jesuits, missions in Paraguay . '. . . .186 

Chiquitos . . . . .208 

first introduction of . . . 268, 273 

— — their progress . . . . . 275 

college at Assumption . . . . .. 2/7 

exertions of . . . . , . . 279 

: orders in favour of . . . , . 9%o 

proposals to the king ..... 283 

state of their republic .... 295 — 302 

« dissentions with . . . , . .304 

■ ■ accusations against . . . . . 305 

1 appoint a judge-conservator .... 306 

expelled by Antequera . . . . 321 

reinstated and again expelled . . ... 327 

— ■- — restored again . . . , , .331 

2 o 4 ' 



56S 



INDEX 



Jesuits, Chiquitos and Moxos reductions 

• — accused and defended 

Pampas missions 

resistance of 

• — final expulsion 

Jujui, town 

Junto, general, at Assumption 



King's port on lake Xarayes 



K 
L 



Ladies of Buenos Ayres 
Lahual, tree 
Lakes, *. , 
Lama, or Peruvian sheep 
Lampa, district . 
Lanza, tree 
Lapaclio, tree 
La Paz, city 
'•■ jurisdiction 
La Plata, river, see Rio de la Plata 

' mines of 

• city 
Lara, Nuno de . 
Lauricocha, mines of . 
Lavaderos, or lavatories 
Lavicaja, mines of 

■ jurisdiction 

Layacota, silver mine 
Ledesma, governor 
Leuco, father, ajesuit 
Line of demarcation 
Lion, see Puma. - 
Lipes, mines of , , 

i jurisdiction 

Lisa, fish 
Lolgen, river 
Londres, or New London, town 
Loretto, mission of 
Los Charcas, province 

< first settlement 

Luxam, town 

Macagua, bird . . * 
Madera, rher 

Madoc's discovery of America 
Magdalen, district 
Magdalena, river » , 

Maldonado, mine near 
u harbour and to\yn 



M 



Page 

. 332 ' 

. 333 

. 334 

. 337 

. 339 

. 191 

. 329 

, 245 

. 393 
. 493 
90—94 
. 457 
. 209 
• 492 
. 492 
, 154, 204 
. 203 



, 151 

. 200 
. 479 

83 

. ' 192 
. 281 
. 163 
. 266 
104, 360 



INDEX. 669 

Page 

Maldonata, story of . . . . . .233 

Malespina ......... 3 

Mamore, river i . . . . . .88 

Mamelukes, see Faulists. 

Maniore, lake ........ 93 

Manoa-tribes . . . . . . 431 — 434 

Manso, Andreas ....... 266 

Matanzas , .416 

Mataranes, Indian tribe . . . . . . 426 

Mataperros . . . . . . . .456 

Marble, quarries of . . . . . . . 161 

Marcassite of gold . . . . . .135 

Marriages of the Indians •. . . . . 38/449 

May ne, Robert . . . . - , . .517 

Melgarejo, Rtiy Diaz . ... . . . 259 

Mena, Juan de ....... 322, 324 

• executed . . . . . .327 

behaviour of his daughter . , . 327 

Mendoza, town . . . . . . 29. 21~2 

Pedro de, adelentado ..... 227 

i , armament . . . * .228 

— founds Buenos Ayres . . . 229 

. expeditions of . . . 230 

■ his death . . . • . 233 

' Diego de, his fate . . . , .230 

' Francisco de . . v , . . .255 

— Gonzalez de ...... 260 

Mercy, convent of . * . , . .174 

Mestizos . . ... . . . 398 etsey. 

Metallurgy 136—138 

Metas • • 147, 403 

Mmes • • . ' . . , ' . . 132—162 

— table of . . . . , . , .144 

ofPorco . , # . . . . .145 

— of La Plata . # . . . . .145 

— — of Potosi . . . . . . .145 

' °f Lipes , . . , . . . . .151 

- 1 ■■— of Puno . . . . . . . .151 

f of Oruro . . . . . . . .153 

ofSicasica . „\ . , . , .154 

of Chucuito . . . . . . .154 

of Pasco . . . . # m , . 1 55 

of Santa Rosa and Caya . .. . . .156 

— - of Colqaijilca . . , . . m . 15S 

" of Cochabamba . . . . , .158 

of Chayanza, * . I59 

— of Caranges . .. . . ... 159 

ofPacages 160 

* - *'■ < ■ • of talq and emeralds , , . , . . 160 



370 INDEX. 

Page 

Mines of Lavicaja . . . . . . 161 

of Mojos . . . . . . .161 

of Misque l6l 

of Atacama . . . ... . .162 

of Tucuman . . . . . .162 

ofCuyo . . . . . / . .162 

of Maldonado 163 

Miner's tools . . . . . . • .13 7 

Mining, spirit of in Peru ...... 503 

Miranda, story of 221 — 226 

Mirinay, river . . . . . . .93 

Misque, mines of .... . . . I6l 

district and town • . . . . 207 

Missionaries, see Jesuits. 

Missionaries, protestant, treatment of . . . 389 

Missions, 186, 188, 280, see Jesuits. 

Molie, tree . .491 

Moluches, Indian tribe . . 54, 436, 453 

Mompo, Ferdinand 324 

Money taken at Buenos Ayres . . . . .361 
Montevideo, town and harbour . * . . 177, 1/8 

first settlement of 321 

trade from . . ... 532, 539 

Mountains 120—134 

~ Brazilian ridge . . . . 121 

— — Cordilleras . . . . . .123 

. Chilian Cordillera . . . . .131 

— of Cordova, &c. . . . . .132 

1 of Casuhati 132 

Moxos, province ....... 208 

■ missions ....... 208 

. Indians 208, 426—430 

Mulattos . 398 et ser h 

Mules, traffic in 188, 531 

Mungrullu, fish . . . . . . .480 

Munoz, history of the New World .... 2 

N 

Nahuelhuapi, lake . . . . . . .84 

Natives, oppression of . . . . . .270 

Navigation of the Vermejo . . . . .119 

Natural history 454—500 
Negrillos, silver ore . • • • . . . 160 
Negro, rio . . . . . . . .82 

Negroes ......... 400 

Negroni, governor ....... 284 

o ' t> t 

Neophytes, see Jesuits. 



New London, town . . . . . . . 1£2 



INDEX. 



571 



O Pa 

Oglen, river . . . . , .83 

Omaguacas,- Indian tribe ...... 278 

Omasuyos, district . . . . . . . 204 

Oppression of the natives . ..... 270 

Optical phenomenon . . . . . .130 

Orejones, island . , . , . .64 

Origin of mankind . . . . . . .11 

Oropesa, town . . . . . . . .201 

Ortiz bank . . . . . . . .61 

Oruro, mines of . , . . . . . .153 

- town and district . . . . 112, 201 

Osorio, his account of some Indians . . .37 
Ostrich, see Emu. 

P 

Paca, quadruped, • 470 

Pacages, mines of . . . . . . 1 60 

■ district 205 

Packet-boats established . . . . . .519 

Packu, fish . . . . . . . 478 

Paco, quadruped . . . . . . 461 

Palo de luz, herb . . . . . . 496 

Palometa, fish, ........ 480 

Palos, bishop, his address ...... 323 

Pampas, plains ...... 102 — 104 

> Indians ....... 534 

missions amongst . . . .334 

Pamperos, winds , . . . . . . • 60 

Papal power restricted in America , . . . .307 

Paraguay, province . • * ... . 29 

original inhabitants of . . . 30 et seq. 

history of 214 — 341 

river .63 

■ herb of, trade in . . . ^ t .530 

description of . . . . . 494 

Paramos, deserts ...... 124, 497 

Parana, river . . . . . . . .71 

reduction of ...... 333 

Paranapane, river ... . ,. . • . 71 

Paria, lake . . „ . . • . 92 

< district . . . . . . . 202 

Pasco, mines of . . . . . . . .155 

Paspaya, district . . . . . . 197 

Patagonians 34, 43$ 

Pati, fish . . . . . ■■<. . .431 

Paucar-Colla, district . • . . . , . 205 

PatlHsfs, origin of . . < . . . . 286 

— — —- character . « . , . . .288 

— - — — irruptions of 290 — 293 



INDEX, 









Feccari, or Mexican hog 




468 


Til _1 _ T J" _ j. "U 

Penuenches, Indian tribe . . • 




437 


Pejereyes, fish . . . . . 




479 


Peso, or piastre, value of 




150 


Picunches, Indian tribe * 




437 


TVl T , • , 

Pilaya, district ... 




197 


Pilcomayo, river .... 




68 


Pine trees ...... 




492 


TV 

Pinnas . . » - •;• . ■ 


. 136, 


139 


Pirape, river . . . . 




72 


Piripiri, or charms .... 
Pizarro, Gonzalez .... 




433 




267 


Plains 


. 97- 


-102 


Platina ...... 


. 134, 


543 


Plata, see Rjo de la Plata 
Plata blancha, silver ore • . 








140 


Til • i 

Jrlomo ronco, silver ore 


• 


140 


Popham, bir Home, letters from . 




342 


Population of America « 




12 


— - — — — — of Paraguay * 


• 


55 


Porco, mine of . 


• 


145 


— district 




196 


Portillio, river 




80 


TS -i. J2 j_ l T» 

Jrortuguese first enter Paraguay 




215 


— settle at St. Sacrament 


184, 


310 


. f r-> •! 

— their route from brazil 




66 


Potosi, mines of 


145^-150 


city 


111, 


194 


Prado, governor of Tucuman 




264 


Precipices .... 




126 


Priests, their privileges 




395 


Primero, river . . 




158 


Proclamation of general Beresford 




356 


■ of the British commanders 




358 


Protector of the Indians 




404 


Provisions, abundance of, at Buenos Ay res 




176 


Puelches, Indian nation . . 


54, 436- 


-451 


Puerto de la Candelaria, . 




187 


• de los Reyes 




64 


-ruma, American lion . 




464 


Puno, mines of 




151 


' ■ town 




206 


Q 






Quebrada de Calchaqui 




190 


Quiabrahacho, tree 




491 


Quintana, governor of Buenos Ayres 




354 


Quinto. rivej , 




7B- 



INDEX. 



R 

ftamtm, Juan Alvarez 
Ramon de los Llanos 
Rasposo, Antonio 
Ray as, fish 

Reductions, see Missions. 
Register-ships . 1 • 

Religion of the Indians 
Religious pomp 
Requelmi, Alphonso 
Republic of the Jesuits 
Republican principles in Paraguay 
Reptiles 

Retuerto, Martin de 

Return of killed and wounded 

of ordnance, &c. 

Revenues of the viceroy alty 
Re^es, Diego de los, governor 
Ribera, expedition of 
Rio de Ja Plata, province 

— — river, first discovery 

■ description 

position of parts of 

Rio del Pasage 
Rio Dolce 
Rio Grande 

Rio Grande de Tebiquari 
Rioja, town 
Kio Xegro 
Rio Tercero 
Rio Valbuena 
Rio Verde 
Rivers 

River- water at Buenos A 
Robertson, historian 
Rojas, Diego de 
Rosicler, silver ore 
Royal audiences 

Saavedra, governor 
Saladillo, river 
Salado, river 
Salazar, Juan de 
Salcedo, 
Salta, town 
Salt 

Saltpetre 
Salt-lakes 
teanabna, Juan de 



Joseph 



Page 
218 
320 
89! 
482 

514 

49 et seq. 410, 444 
385 
244 
2Q5—302 
325 
483 etsecj. 
156 
354 
354 
373, 574 
316—320 
43, 248 
'28, 289 
32, 214 
53, 59 
62 
74 
74 
70 
96 
192 
77 V 82 
75 
74 
70 

53—90 
176 
1 

264 
141 

■ 366 

280 
78 
74 
245 
152 
108, K)i 
9-i, 95 
95 

04, 95,' 96 
257 



57 ^ INDEX. 

San Barnard de Tarija, town . .* 196 

San Jago del Estero, town . . 29, 189, 265 

San Juan de la Frontera, town . . .212 

San Luis de Loyala, town . . . . ■ 213 

San Lorenzo, town . . . .1.99 

San Miguel de Tucuman, town . 190, 265 

San Phelipe de Oruro, town . . 20 1 

Sanquel, river . . . .83 

San Salvador de Jujui^ town „ . . 191 

Santa Cruz de la, Sierra, province . 29, 20 6 

city . . . 206, 260, 314 

Santa Fe, city . . . 28, 184, 263 

Santiago de Cotagaita, town ...... 198 

Savalla, ■ fish • . . 479 

Scalping practised by the Indians . . .46 

Sebastian Cabot, see Cabot 

Serpent worshipped by the Indians . ' . ,53, 248 
Serpents . . . . . . . 486 et seq, 

Serralvo, marquis of, anecdote of . . . .368 

Settlers, character of the Spanish .... 259 

Sicasica., mines of . . . . . .154 

— > district . 202 

Sierra de Solis ........ 59 

Silver- mines . . . . . . . .136 

Slaves, importation of . ..... 524 

Slave-Company at Santa Cruz . . • .314 

Slave-trade, abolition of ...... 556 

Slaughtering of cattle, modes of . • . 415, 41 6 

Srn all-pox, ravages of . . . . . 55, 446 

Snakes . . . . . . . 486 et seq, 

Solis, Juan de, first discoverer of the Plata . . .32 

. his expedition . . . . . 214 

his death . . . . . .215 

Spaniards, manners of, &c. . . . 378, 39 1 

■ dress 392 

Spanish colonial and commercial policy . . 501 et seq, 

■ colonies, difficulty concerning . . . 1 

, enumeration of . . 21 

St. Anthony, cape . . . i . . .168 

St. Ignatius, mission 187, 282 

Guazu ....... 284 

St. Lucia, town ...... 73, 184 

river . • . .183 

St. Matthias, bay • . 8b 

St. Paul of Piritininga .... 66, 286 et saj, 
St. Sacrament, see Colonia 

Students of Cordova, their dress .... 3y3 

Sunchuli, gold mine , . . . . . . 161 

Suripchaquins, Indian tribe . . . • .34 

Suspb, insect . . '. . . . . . 4d4 



INDEX. 



575 



T Pape 

Tabaxiva, river # . . . . . • . 72 

Taluhets, Indian tribe 4-38, 448 

Talvevara de Puna, town . . . . . . I96 

Tambos . . . . ' . . . ISO 

Tanuya, river ....... 80 

Tapes, Indian tribe . . . . . . .418 

expedition against . . . . . .256* 

Tapir, quadruped ....... 469 

Tapiza, town . . . . . . . 198 

Tarabita . . . . . 115, 1 £9 

Tarapaya, river . . . • .6*8 
Tarija, Francisco de . ... 164 

valley of . . . . .164 

— district . . . . .197 

Tatoos, see Armadillo 

Tea of Paraguay, see Paraguay herb. 

Tea- plant ...... 496 

Tebiquari, river . . . * 77, 289 

Tehuelhets, Indian tribe • . . 439 

Tehuelmahal, peninsula . . ,85 

Tercero, river . . . .75 

Tiaguanaco, origin of the name . . .92 
Tigers, see Jaguar and Cougar 

mode of hunting . . / . . 434 

Titiaca, lake „ . . 91 

temple of the Sun . . . . 92 

Toads found in stone . . . .483 

Towns and cities . . .172 et seq. 

■ — in the jesuits* republic . . . 295 

Toledo, Martin Suarez de ... 263 

Tomina, district . . . .195 

Torch-wood . . . . , .497 

Tordillo, wood . . . . . . I67 

Torre, first bishop of Paraguay . . . 25/ 

Torrez, provincial of the jesuits , "2/9 

Trade of Buenos Ayres . . 516 et sag. 

Traditions of the Chipewyans . . . I5 

Travelling from Buenos Ayres . . .,182 

Tucuman, province . . 29 

plains of . . .97 

— entrance of, and progress in . . . 264 

towns built . . . 265 

Tythes, how divided and applied . . . 370 

u 

Uco, town . • . • # • .213 

Ucuntaya, mountain . . . .211 

Uruguay, river . , . 76 

Ugartc, Juan de . . .155 



576 , INDEX. 

Urimaguas, Indian tribe 
Urizar, Estevan de 
Urtuezez, Indian tribe 

"Vegetable productions 
Venegas, a conspirator 
Vergfara. Governor 
Vermejo, river 

Viceroyalties, several, established 
Viceroys 

Vicunna, quadruped 
Vieja, fish 

Vilagras, Francisco de 
Villarica, town 
Vitoche, town 
Volcanoes 
Vulcan mountain 
Vultures 

W 

Warfare of the Indians 
Water communication 
Water tiger . * 
Wizards amongst the Indians 
Women, Spanish, -manners, &c. of 

X 

Xarayes, Indian nation 

lake . 

Xavier, Francisco, a Patagonian 
Xerez de la Frontera 
Xuxui, town 

Y 

Yaguaron, town- 
Yaguaru, water tiger 

z 

Zabala, governor 

— defeats the rebels 

besieges St. Sacrament 

m**- ■ founds Montevideo 

. death of 

Zarate, governor 

Zarcaranna, river * . 

Zoroche, silver ore 

Zorillo, quadruped 4 

Zumbador, bird 

Zurita, governor of Tucuman 

Zurubi, risk 

FINIS. 



Squire, Printer, Furriival>Inn«Couit. 




IB 



